By EvansTheCrime | Posted: September 30, 2016
POLICE have today welcomed the jailing of members of an extensive drug trafficking gang that was flooding South West Wales with high purity cocaine.
Members of the gang have received jail time totalling almost 170 years for their parts in the conspiracy which saw £18.5 million worth of the drug brought from Liverpool to the streets of Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.
The gang was dismantled following a major operation led by Dyfed-Powys Police — code named Operation Phobos — which involved tracking 34 drugs runs by members between Merseyside and Swansea, covert surveillance of key meetings, the analysis of phone records, and the bugging of one of the gang's safe houses in Clydach.
Dyfed-Powys detective chief inspector Huw Davies, the senior investigating officer in the case said: "Dyfed-Powys Police, with support from other forces and partner agencies, in particular the Crown Prosecution Service, has disrupted a significant criminal network that was operating throughout the UK.
"This is a tremendous result not only for Dyfed-Powys Police, but for the communities we serve. It is testament to the expertise and dedication of the force's serious organised crime Team.
"Any other criminal groups thinking of targeting the Dyfed-Powys area should think again — we may police a largely rural, traditional area, but we have excellent detectives all committed to making sure our communities are not adversely affected by serious criminal groups such as these."
He added: "May I also thank the members of the public who provided vital information during the course of the investigation. The role members of the public play in making their own communities safer and bringing people to justice should not be under-estimated."
From November 2014 to November 2015 members of the gang made dozens of trips between Liverpool and Swansea, transporting high purity cocaine to South West Wales.They operated from safe houses in Vera Road, Clydach, in Lon Masarn, Tycoch, Swansea, and in Y Corsydd, Machynys, Llanelli, and used dozens of disposable mobile phones and frequently switched vehicles in an attempt the throw police off their scent.
But they didn't realise detectives had cracked the trafficking operation.
Detectives found a 25kg barrel of benzocaine - used to 'cut' cocaine ready for street deals - in a garage on Brondeg in Manselton
Once police had gathered enough evidence the arrest phase of Operation Phobos began, with suspects picked up at locations around the UK from Swansea to Manchester Airport, where one of the gang was preparing to board a one-way flight to Tenerife.
Jonathan Bushell, head of CPS Cymru-Wales' complex casework unit, said: "This operation targeted an extensive and highly-organised network of criminals who were involved in the supply of very large quantities of cocaine.
"Each defendant in this case had a distinct role within the group and each therefore bears responsibility for bringing misery to the communities they supplied.
"Together they preyed on those in the grip of addiction, who often turn to other types of crime to support their habit."
At the end of the case at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Paul Thomas QC praised the "quite exceptional" investigation, which he said had been of the "absolutely highest order".
He added the public owed those involved in bringing the gang to justice a great debt.
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