Raid on drugs factory ‘with gym’
An anonymous tip-off has led to the discovery of a cannabis factory in Nottinghamshire containing 3,000 plants with a street value of £3m.
Officers raided a former chicken factory on Barrows Hill Lane in Jacksdale where they also found electrical equipment worth £250,000.
Police described the factory as a “sophisticated set-up”, containing living quarters complete with a gym.
Seven men, aged between 20 and 48, have been arrested.
The men are currently in police custody following the raid on Wednesday afternoon.
‘Huge scale’
Ch Insp Mark Wakeland said: “One attending officer who has executed drugs warrants for the past seven years said it was the biggest and most sophisticated set-up he had ever seen.
“Cannabis plants were being grown on an industrial scale across the factory floor - a huge space roughly 50m (164ft) long by 25m (82ft) wide.”
He added it was “an immensely professional operation”.
Officers acted on information received anonymously via Crimestoppers.
Drugs general’s fall from power
Fast cars, sharp suits and a multi-million pound property portfolio - it sounds like a classic British gangster movie.
But the life of convicted Nottinghamshire “drugs general” Gary Hardy was far from fiction.
On Thursday, Hardy was found guilty of supplying heroin and amphetamines and laundering his profits through a string of made-to-measure businesses.
And Hardy kept it in the family, using his crack addict brother Paul to deal vast quantities of drugs worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The family connection did not end there - their mother, June Muers, 67, helped Paul deal drugs out of her home in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
And Paul’s ex-partner Zoe Chapman, 29, would courier drugs to clients in her children’s pushchair.
All were found guilty of drugs offences at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday.
During the course of the trial, Gary Hardy, 45, was described as one of three drugs generals, with a huge multi-million pound drugs empire, who ran part of the north Nottinghamshire patch.
He shared the area with two other dealers, John Dawes and his brother Rob, to avoid a turf war.
John Dawes is currently three years into a 24-year prison sentence for supplying Class A and B drugs.
His brother Rob was arrested in Dubai in May on an international arrest warrant issued by the Spanish authorities in connection with drugs charges.
For every kilogram of heroin sold every seven to 10 days, the Dawes brothers and Hardy would make £8,000 profit each.
Running his turf with violence, fear and intimidation, the court heard that Gary Hardy and his family were notorious in the area, outwardly enjoying all the trappings of wealth from “successful businesses”.
School fees
Between 2001-07, Hardy was the registered keeper of 90 vehicles, not all at the same time, but nevertheless expensive, luxury cars.
When he was arrested, he had 16 finance agreements on the cars, valued at £904,000, with monthly repayments reaching £15,200.
He would “sell” these cars on to his employees, taking instalments from them and hanging onto the log books until payments had been made, laundering his drugs cash.
He had a brand new home, and would pay his children’s private school fees in cash, yet had several failed businesses.
Hardy was already under surveillance when a drug deal went wrong on 29 April 2003, but that failed deal ensured Nottinghamshire Police finally got some key evidence and signed up a number of witnesses to testify against him.
Their following investigation looked closely into the accounts from companies he owned or was involved with.
When fraud accountants went through Hardy’s Apex Windows’ accounts, they found in 2003, more than £1m went out on wages - a 148% increase on the previous year, but sales only rose by 34%.
Employees on the books included Paul Hardy, although witnesses said he never did a day’s work there.
Det Ch Insp Stewart Bradley who led the investigation, said: “He was a major player. The Hardy drugs group is what we would class as an organised crime group.
“Gary Hardy had a network of people underneath him, prepared to do the work for him and he remained, as was described, a general with a number of lieutenants and perhaps what you would describe as soldiers working on the ground.
“In his elevated position, he was able to keep away from the hands-on drugs himself and dealt mainly with the money. And that money ran into millions.”
He said some witnesses who gave evidence were so frightened they left the area and never returned.
Spaghetti pot
The court heard one tell how a man was beaten and stabbed at one of Gary Hardy’s garages as he failed to pay a drugs debt.
On the day of the Hardy arrests on 4 January 2007, police found drugs with a street value of almost £70,000 and £16,000 in cash stashed all over June Muers’ house, including in a spaghetti pot in the kitchen.
Ch Insp Barry Harper from the drugs directorate said: “I think Gary Hardy did a lot of damage to the community.
“By flooding this area with drugs, it caused untold amounts of damage to people.”
During the trial, in trying to justify how he kept up his flashy lifestyle when businesses were failing, Hardy maintained his car and window companies became “too successful” and had to be put into liquidation.
He had a portfolio of about 40 properties in north Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
One witness claimed most of the properties were empty and the money was laundered through rent books.
Not a single receipt was recovered for the rents paid, a point Hardy failed to clear up during the trial.
Now the process of untangling Hardy’s assets has begun, as officers have started to try to recover his ill-gotten gains through the Proceeds of Crime Act.
‘Drugs general’ man found guilty
A Nottinghamshire businessman described as a “drugs general” has been found guilty of running a major drugs network.
Gary Hardy, 45, from The Copse, Mansfield, was found guilty by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court.
His brother Paul Hardy, 47, and his mother June Muers, 67, have also been convicted of drugs offences.
Paul Hardy’s partner Zoe Chapman, 29, was also found guilty of drugs offences.
Another defendant Carl Busby, 46, was found not guilty of a charge of money laundering.
The jury had heard Gary Hardy lived a lavish lifestyle funded by dealing drugs and laundering the illegal profits.
He was the head of a family business that supplied heroin and amphetamines to dealers in two of Nottinghamshire’s former mining towns, Sutton-in-Ashfield and Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
During the trial the court heard Gary Hardy ran several unsuccessful businesses yet continued to live a lavish lifestyle.
He put his brother Paul, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, along with other associates, on the books to pay them for illegal drug activities.
The jury heard heroin - hidden in lorry tyres - was smuggled into the country and for every kilo sold on the streets Gary Hardy made £8,000.
Defending Gary Hardy, Trevor Burke said he was a “flamboyant, successful” property businessman, who was a victim of the “politics of envy”, and that his client was in the dock because people were jealous of his success.
Prosecutor Richard Latham QC told the court Gary Hardy was a drugs “general” behind the operation who owned several Porsches, Mercedes and Ferraris and paid private school fees in cash.
Gary Hardy was caught after a drugs handover in a car park was traced to his mobile phone - he had been under surveillance.
Det Ch Insp Stewart Bradley from Nottinghamshire Police said: “He probably thought he was untouchable - the general with a number of lieutenants and perhaps what you could describe as soldiers working on the ground.
“The moneys ran into millions. He’d been able to keep away from hands on with the drugs himself.”
The court heard he used his crack addict brother Paul to deal vast quantities of drugs. Paul Hardy was found guilty of supplying drugs.
Their mother June Muers, 67, helped Paul deal drugs out of her home in Kirkby-in-Ashfield. She was convicted of supplying amphetamine and cannabis.
And Paul’s ex-partner Zoe Chapman, 29, would courier drugs to clients in her children’s pushchair. She was found guilty of supplying amphetamine.
All four will be sentenced next month.
Australian police bust drugs ring
Australian police say they have busted an international drugs ring and seized what they describe as the largest single haul of the drug ecstasy.
Sixteen people were arrested across Australia, with further raids expected in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.
It follows a year-long investigation after 15 million ecstasy pills were found hidden in a shipping container that arrived in Melbourne from Italy.
The tablets had an estimated street value of about A$450m (US$400m; £200m).
The ecstasy - a banned amphetamine with mild hallucinogenic properties - was found by Australian customs officers hidden in tins of tomatoes in a shipping container in June 2007.
The pills were replaced with a harmless substitute and the delivery was tracked, police say.
‘No soft target’
The breakthrough came when another shipment of 150kg of cocaine arrived in Australia last month, which led to the raids across several countries.
In Canberra, Attorney-General Robert McClelland said Australia had shown it was not a soft target for drug smugglers - that view, he insisted, has been “well and truly” smashed.
The syndicate was believed to be responsible for 60% of illegal drug imports in to southern Australia.
Local newspaper reports have suggested that among those targeted by the police were Australians allegedly linked to the Calabrian mafia in the New South Wales fruit-growing town of Griffith, as well as others associated with an outlawed motorcycle gang.
Ecstasy dealer gets jail sentence
A drug dealer in the Scottish Borders has been jailed for a total of two years and four months.
Arthur Collin, 38, of Eyemouth, admitted being concerned in the supply of ecstasy and amphetamines at his home in Church Street in May.
At Jedburgh Sheriff Court, he also admitted being in possession of cocaine when police officers raided his home.
Sheriff Kevin Drummond said Collin would have been jailed for 42 months but for his guilty plea.
Crackdown on drug and sex crimes
A crackdown on people bringing drugs and prostitutes into a West Midlands city has begun.
Police officers in Coventry are targeting the Hillfields area and are checking number plates to identify cars belonging to known drug dealers.
They are also searching for people thought to be bringing prostitutes into the area from outside the city.
A police spokesman said residents are being blighted by these people, most of whom are not from Coventry.
Pc Barney Barnes said the operation, known as Operation Tripwire, was designed to tackle people coming into Hillfields to encourage drug use and the sex trade.
“The local community are blighted by these people, most of whom come from outside the city.
“We will be targeting these people and looking to make arrests so we can send out the message that prostitution and drug dealing will not be tolerated in Hillfields,” he said.
Sentences after dawn drugs raids
A long-term undercover police operation in South Lanarkshire has resulted in 21 people being sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison for drugs offences.
The jail terms, ranging from six months to two-and-a-half years, were handed down at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
The accused were among 33 people arrested during dawn raids in the area in June 2007.
They were all suspected to be involved in the supply of Class A drugs, predominantly heroin.
Ch Supt Tim Love, of Strathclyde Police, said “Operation Robust” was designed to target those who were “blighting” the community.
“The arrests of those individuals and their subsequent sentencing has shown that we will not tolerate a minority of people bringing misery to the lives of others,” he said.
“We all want South Lanarkshire to be a place that its residents can feel safe in and be proud of, and there is no place for criminal activity in that vision.
“Strathclyde Police work to gather as much information as possible to deal with offences and offenders but we also rely heavily on the people of South Lanarkshire to help us by coming forward with information they may have.”
“That was the case with Operation Robust and I believe it has sent out a clear message to anyone engaging in criminality that they can and will be caught.”
Man jailed for drug theft murder
A 23-year-old has been jailed for life for stabbing a man to death to steal a “trivial” amount of cannabis from him.
Donald Vincent, 20, was attacked near his home in Prospect Hill, Walthamstow, east London, on 12 September last year.
Quentin Farrell, from Barkingside, Ilford, east London, was convicted of the murder at the Old Bailey in July.
His brother James Farrell, 27, Deric Darko, 24, Djodjo Osango, 23, and Muhiddin Muhiddin, 20, were cleared of murder but admitted conspiracy to rob.
Ruthless violence
Quentin Farrell also admitted conspiracy to rob.
Judge Martin Stephens ordered Quentin Farrell to serve a minimum term of 25 years.
Judge Stephens told Farrell: “You produced a knife and stabbed Vincent through the heart, killing him, an act of ruthless violence on a helpless victim, in pursuit of gain and what turned out to be a trivial amount of cannabis.”
Following the sentencing Mr Vincent’s mother, Fatmata Siddique, told the court: “We consider that justice has been done but also know that despite these sentences, nothing will bring Donald back.
“We will have to live the rest of our lives without the joy he brought to us all and know that the pain and suffering will never go away.
“As a family, we forgive those who committed these acts against Donald and the man who killed him.”
During the trial the court heard Mr Vincent, who was a small-time drug dealer, was set up by friend Deric Darko so that the men could steal £300 worth of cannabis from him.
Mr Vincent stumbled home and told his mother “Mummy, call 999 - they stabbed me”, the court heard.
Darko, of Ilford, recruited Osango and Muhiddin, both from Woodford Green, and the Farrell brothers to carry out the robbery.
Darko and James Farrell, of Walthamstow, were jailed for four years each.
Osango was jailed for three years while Muhiddin was sentenced to five years’ detention.
Two jailed over £1.6m drugs plot
Two men found guilty of conspiring to import cannabis with a street value of £1.6m from Spain have been jailed for 12 years each, a court heard.
David Lindley, 45, and Robert Michael Matthews, 65, had denied conspiracy to import cannabis but a jury at Dorchester Crown Court convicted them.
The court heard the pair tried to import more than 3,000 bars of the drug with a total weight of 800kg.
The drugs were intercepted bound for Lindley’s Dorchester business address.
The haul was intercepted in transit in October 2005 by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs officers and Dorset Police detectives, who then commenced an investigation, which led to the two men being charged.
Det Chief Insp Neil Redstone, of Dorset Police, who led the investigation, said: “From a relatively early point in the investigation it was clear that Lindley was involved in the importation of a large quantity of cannabis.
“Further evidence we gathered led to the two being charged and the verdict of the court today reflects the strength of the evidence in the case.”
Man charged over van drug seizure
A man has been charged over the discovery of cannabis with an estimated value of £30,000 in the back of a van.
Officers stopped the vehicle in Rainhill, Merseyside, in the early hours of Thursday and found several carrier bags containing the drug.
The 37-year-old driver, from Rainhill, was charged with possession with intent to supply cannabis.
A spokeswoman for Merseyside police said he was due to appear before magistrates in St Helens.
Police close down ‘crack house’
Police have sealed off a house in a Surrey village which they believed was being used by drug dealers.
Surrey Police said the property in Birch Road, Farncombe, was boarded up on Friday following an order from South West Surrey magistrates.
A 27-year-old man was arrested during an early morning raid at the address at the end of July.
The force said they had evidence that the property was being used in the supply and production of Class A drugs.
Neighbourhood specialist officer Jim Lavery said: “Local residents have suffered damage, petty theft, graffiti, fighting, noise and the general anti-social behaviour associated with perceived drug dealing.
“There has been a large impact on the whole community as a consequence of the goings-on at this property.
“I hope now there can be a return to the pleasant environment which these people had enjoyed within their locality.
Two questioned about drugs find
Gardaí are continuing to question two men in their 20s in County Monaghan after a large quantity of cannabis was seized.
The haul is believed to be worth about 300,000 euros.
Gardaí from the Monaghan Drugs Unit searched two houses on Saturday morning where they discovered an unspecified quantity of cannabis plants.
The two men were taken to Monaghan Garda station.
Twenty arrests over men’s deaths
Three more people have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the drugs’ deaths of two men in south Tyneside.
Callum Taylor, 24, died after an incident at a house in Hampden Street, South Shields, on 27 July.
Ryan Burn, 20, who was also at the house, died a week and a half later.
Twenty people have now been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs. All have been bailed pending further inquiries.
A post-mortem examination on Mr Taylor failed to determine the cause of death. The results of further tests are not expected for a number of weeks.
Drug death methadone link claims
A support agency in south west Scotland has said a black market in methadone was a major cause in a rise in drug-related deaths in the region.
Recent figures showed 10 fatalities in Dumfries and Galloway in 2007 compared with five the previous year.
The First Base agency said it believed much of the blame lay in the illegal trade of methadone.
National figures showed it was involved in 25% of drug deaths across Scotland last year.
Mark Frankland, of First Base, said it was a growing problem as the amounts of methadone being prescribed increased.
“The problem with that is there is a large black market for methadone,” he said.
“Clients are given their Sunday prescription to take away with them.
“Obviously, if you double the amount they are having you literally double the amount of black market methadone around.”
He said he believed it had played a part in the 10 deaths around the region.
More information
“It is very, very strong stuff and it does need to be treated very, very carefully,” he said.
The region’s Alcohol and Drug Action team has said it studies the cause of each death in detail.
Spokesman Jim Parker said it was constantly working to try to reduce the number of fatalities.
“People who take drugs in this day and age should know the risk they are taking,” he said.
“However, there are ways that they and we can help minimise that risk.
“If people continue to take drugs the more information about safer practice the better.”
Drug dealer jailed over killing
A 23-year-old drug dealer has been sentenced to nine years in prison for the manslaughter of a 30-year-old man.
David Williams, of Oldbrook Boulevard in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, was stabbed in his flat last August.
Eric Erron Johnson, of Devonport Road, London, was cleared of murdering Mr Williams but convicted of manslaughter.
Johnson was sentenced at the Old Bailey in London to nine years less the time spent on remand.
Self defence
John Denniss, prosecuting during the trial at Luton Crown Court, said the two men both dealt in cocaine and heroin and had been arguing over Johnson’s missing Prada mobile phone.
Mr Denniss said: “Both men were deeply involved in the local drug scene and the defendant dealt crack cocaine and heroin in Milton Keynes.
“His pride and joy was a Prada mobile phone worth about £500 which he alleged Mr Williams had taken along with some of his heroin.”
Johnson jabbed at Mr Williams with a sharpened stick and stabbed him with the knuckle duster knife - which he wore around his neck - causing two wounds, one of which proved fatal.
During the trial Johnson said he acted in self-defence.
Brothers guilty of triple murder
One of two brothers who have been found guilty of murdering three drug dealers in a gangland-style execution has been jailed for life.
Keith Cowell, 52, his son Matthew, 17, and Tony Dulieu, 33, from Essex, were killed at the Cowells’ Hertfordshire house on 28 August 2007.
Miran Thakrar, 24, of no fixed address, was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court to serve a minimum of 42 years.
Kevan Thakrar, 21, of Lomond Way, Stevenage, will be sentenced later.
The Thakrars were also found guilty of the attempted murders of Christine Jennings, 54, and Matthew Cowell’s girlfriend, Clare Evans, 23, at the house in Bishop’s Stortford, last August, and of possessing a firearm.
The men had met at the house to do a cocaine deal, but Miran Thakrar, a small-time drug dealer, was angry he had been sold poor quality cocaine previously by the Cowells, and was out for revenge, the court heard.
The Cowells had obtained their cocaine from another dealer, Ian Jennings, who was also at the scene, jurors were told.
Thakrar, 24, shot the family dog, Gorgeous, and then lined up Keith Cowell, Matthew Cowell and Mr Dulieu and shot them dead in the house in Plaw Hatch Close, as his brother Kevan looked on.
The men then also shot and stabbed Christine Jennings, Mr Jennings’ mother, and attacked Clare Evans with a knife as she tried to shield her three-year-old daughter.
Ian Jennings escaped by hiding in the back garden.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Cooke told Miran Thakrar: “This was a cold-blooded multiple murder carried out in a savage way.
“In the case of the three men, you shot them with a sub-machine gun as some form of execution because of a prior drug deal where you were dissatisfied.
“None of the three were armed and you lured them to the Cowells’ residence in order to kill those responsible.
“There is not the slightest evidence of any remorse and your punishment must be severe.”
The jury also found Miran Thakrar’s girlfriend, Amanda Dansie, 21, of High Street, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, Yilay Tufensoy, also 21, of Nags Head Road, Enfield, north London, and the brothers’ father, Atul Thakrar, 47, of Lomond Way, guilty of assisting an offender.
They were each jailed for four years.
Yilay Tufensoy was also found not guilty of another charge of assisting an offender.
Jay Thakrar, 25, was also acquitted of the same charge.
Charlotte Cowell, 23, the daughter of Keith Cowell and sister of Matthew Cowell, said: “Nothing can change what has happened or alleviate the impact, pain and suffering that this has had on ourselves, other family members and the vast numbers of friends and family to whom my dad, Matt and Gorgeous, our puppy, meant so much.”
“The last year as you can only imagine has been an extremely difficult time due to the loss we have suffered, the horrific circumstances in which they died and the investigation that has brought us to this point,” she added.
Three arrested after drugs raids
Cannabis with an estimated street value of £150,000 has been discovered in police raids in East Lancashire.
Three men were arrested after police found three cannabis farms at addresses in Burnley and Nelson.
More than 1,000 plants were seized from the Duke of York pub in Colne Road, Burnley, in what police called a sophisticated set-up.
A further 400 plants were discovered at another house in Colne Road and 500 at a house in Hibson Road in Nelson.
The raids are part of the ongoing crackdown against drug supply in East Lancashire.
Drug courier handed prison term
A man who was caught with drugs after his car broke down on the M74 in South Lanarkshire has been jailed for three years and four months.
The High Court in Glasgow heard how John Goodwin, 43, from Carluke, called a friend from Abington services in May.
But his nervous behaviour led to police being called and his car searched.
Officers found three large boxes in the boot containing thousands of diazepam tablets with an estimated street value of £388,000.
Goodwin admitted being concerned in the supply of diazepam.
The judge, Lady Dorrian, told him he would have been jailed for five years if it had not been for his early guilty plea.