Men distributed £70m of cocaine from 'drugs warehouse' at Hampshire farm, jury told
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Portsmouth Crown Court heard cocaine with £6.4m street value along with a pistol, silencer and 50 rounds of ammunition was found at a rented unit on a farm.
Using encrypted phones and specially-adapted vehicles with secret hides, the ‘highly organised’ gang cut, packaged and distributed drugs for ‘at least 12 months’ across the country, jurors were told.
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Hide AdOpening the case this week, prosecutor Mark Ruffell said: ‘This part of the crime group were responsible for the distribution of an estimated £1.5m worth - that’s the wholesale bulk buy value - worth of cocaine around the UK on a weekly basis.
‘They’d been doing it for at least 12 months prior to the (police) searches prior to October 2 last year. That equates to approximately £70m worth of cocaine.’
‘Drugs found on farm worth £6.4m’
Jurors heard police raided Clamp Farm Stables in Newtown, west of Denmead, after months of surveillance following couriers and alleged members of the gang.
Inside the leased unit officers found a caravan, Volkswagen box lorry, and a modified white Mercedes Vito van containing the £6.4m worth of cocaine.
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Hide AdDNA on one of the 63 single kilogramme blocks was linked to Jason Stanley, 20, of Passingham Walk in Cowplain.
In a ‘false bulkhead’ in the van was a Tesco bag with fingerprints from Stanley on the outside, and a handgun, 50 rounds of ammunition and a silencer inside the bag.
Swab testing found DNA matching Stanley on the silencer, the court heard.
The caravan was the ‘main workshop’ to prepare the drugs and had been leased by drugs ‘warehouse manager’ Lee Matthews, 37, of Field Way in Denmead, who was assisted by Stanley in the illicit operation, jurors heard.
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Hide AdBoth Matthews and Stanley have admitted conspiring to supply cocaine between October 1 in 2018 to October 3 in 2019, and conspiring to supply amphetamine, a class B drug.
They both deny possession of the firearm, ammunition or silencer. They are on trial with James Bakes, 41, of Aldermoor Road in Purbrook, who denies conspiring to supply cocaine. He is not charged in relation to the firearm but is accused of assisting Matthews.
‘Defendant’s girlfriend tipped off conspirator’
The court heard Stanley was arrested as he drove in his Fiesta from Clamp Farm and police found 4kg of cocaine in his vehicle on October 2 last year.
When police searched the back garden cabin Stanley shared with his girlfriend at his home in Lovedean Lane, Cowplain, they found it had £100,000 worth of cocaine - including around 1.5kg at import quality.
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Hide AdMatthews handed himself into police on October 8 after officers visited his home in Field Way, Denmead, on October 2, the court heard. They found an encrypted phone and 928g of amphetamines.
Mr Ruffell said Stanley’s girlfriend Amelia Hayles had ‘tipped off’ Matthews on October 2 leading him to flee to Luton.
‘Slip ups’ made by alleged gang
A group of couriers were also involved, Mr Ruffell said.
Jurors were told courier Robert Hey made 63 runs distributing cocaine in a modified blue Mercedes Vito van fitted with a secret compartment before it was seized by Portsmouth City Council for parking on double yellow lines on January 31.
It was one of several ‘slip ups,’ Mr Ruffell said the conspirators had made.
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Hide AdHey, 41, of Upper Arundel Street in Landport, Portsmouth, has already admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and is not on trial.
David Mulvoy and George Miaris were stopped separately in vehicles before the farm raid.
Mr Ruffell said Miaris was stopped on July 3 last year with 10kg of import quality cocaine, and Mulvoy on April 17 last year with 6kg of cocaine.
In September last year Mulvoy admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply. Miaris admitted the same charge in August last year.
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Hide AdThese men were prosecuted ‘before the full extent’ of the operation was known by police, Mr Ruffell said.
‘Couriers took cocaine across the country’
Continuing his opening, Mr Ruffell said: ‘Both Robert Hey and David Mulvoy collected drugs from Hampshire and took them to other parts of the country.
‘The cocaine that was distributed nationally and at import grade and was being distributed from the Portsmouth and Waterlooville area to London, Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Plymouth, the West Midlands, Norwich and Essex.
‘After David Mulvoy’s arrest, it would appear that the organised crime group changed its method of operation.
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Hide Ad‘Instead, couriers for the customers around the country would come to Hampshire to collect the drugs and George Miaris was one such courier.’
Men deny having possession of handgun
Adam Gersch, defending Matthews, told jurors in a defence opening that there was ‘no evidence of large sums of money’ being paid to his client.
Stanley’s barrister Hugh French said it was ‘hardly surprising’ his client’s fingerprints were found on the bag containing the gun as it was in a drugs factory he had been operating in for several months. ‘He had no knowledge or control of the firearms and the ammunition,’ Mr French said.
Tom Nicholson said Bakes, who denies involvement in the drugs conspiracy, was ‘lawfully working as a surface worker in Winchester’ and the evidence had been ‘misinterpreted’.
The trial is due to last two to three weeks.
(Proceeding)