A gang of cocaine dealing thugs have been locked up for a total of more than 40 years after police found more than £135k worth of drugs during a series of raids.
Cocaine dealers involved in a large-scale Class A drug supplying conspiracy have been put behind bars for a combined total of more than 40 years.
Gang ringleader Laim Pow from Wreay Walk, Cramlington was locked up for 14 years and four months alongside a host of his shady associates.
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Police raided properties in Newton Aycliffe, Cramlington, West Denton and Walker after they launched a complex investigation and infiltrated the group’s encrypted messages.
Officers seized three kilos of cocaine with a street value of £135,000 as well as £260,000 of suspected criminal cash - £100,000 of which was being kept be so-called ‘cash holder’ Storey.
Pow’s associates Scott Ridley, Tiffany Day, Christopher Phillips were also jailed on Thursday (December 15), followed by their couriers Alexander Bales, Jace Farrell and David Storey on Friday (December 16).
All expect for Tiffany Day pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply.
Scott Ridley, 32, of Walkerfield Court, Newcastle was jailed for nine years and four months. Tiffany Day, 30, also of Walkerfield Court denied her involvement but was found guilty following a trial and jailed for three years.
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Also thrown behind bars were Christopher Phillips, 30, of Clapham Avenue, Newcastle (for four years and six months), Alexander Peter James Bales, 25, of Ida Place, Newton Aycliffe (for four years and nine months), Jace Michael Farrell, 26, of Phoenix Place, Newton Aycliffe (for four years and nine months), and David Storey, 29, of Welbeck Road, Walker (for five years and one month).
Three more men, implicated in the conspiracy also pleaded guilty to their roles and will be sentenced in the new year.
Speaking after the sentencings, Detective Chief Inspector Marc Michael, from the Force’s Crime department, said: “We have made it clear that illicit substances like cocaine have no place in our communities and anyone involved in the production, supply or distribution will be pursued under the banner of Operation Sentinel – our dedicated initiative to tackling Serious and Organised Crime.
“This group was monitored by specialist officers over a five-month period during the global pandemic – a time when most people were pulling together and following the rules to help their communities out. But instead of doing that, this group met up to exchange illegal Class A drugs, criminal cash and plot how to make more ill gotten gains.
“Thankfully our evidence enabled us to make a number of arrests and secure swift charges. Thanks to support from our criminal justice partners, a solid case was presented before the courts and has resulted in eight convictions and a number of organised criminals being placed behind bars.
“Our communities are undoubtedly a better place thanks to this result. We have made it clear that this type of offending will not be tolerated and we will continue to work hard to disrupt this type of criminality.”
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