The Law Today The Drug Files

  A locksmith has been jailed after officers recovered £1.5million worth of Class A drugs that were concealed in an elaborate hide. Alex Guest, 40 (01.03.81) of Boleyn Way, Ilford, was sentenced to 11 years and three months’ imprisonment at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday, 30 March. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs (cocaine) and possession of criminal property at the same court on 30 June 2020. On Monday, 20 April 2020 at about 19:20hrs officers from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, supported by officers from the ANPR Interceptor Units, stopped a van on the M11 southbound, near the junction with the A406, in Redbridge, as part of an intelligence-led operation targeting the supply of Class A drugs. Officers searched the van and found an elaborate hide. The hidden compartment was concealed within a partition wall of the van and was operated by hydraulic arms, behind locksmith cutting equipment, to disguise its presence. Within the hide, office...

  Six people have been jailed after a specialist Met team shut down a sophisticated network of Brazilian criminals who couriered and supplied drugs across London. During the operation, detectives recovered what is believed to be the largest quantity of GBL seized by police in the United Kingdom. More than 2,000 litres of the drug were recovered, with an estimated value of £2.2 million. Four of the Organised Crime Network (OCN) - who were making millions of pounds from the enterprise - were sentenced on Wednesday, 24 and Thursday, 25 March at Inner London Crown Court. The following were found guilty of 14 counts of conspiracy to supply or offer to supply Class, A, B and C drugs on 20 March 2019, after an eight-week trial at the same court. They had been remanded in custody pending sentencing: - Henrique Bernardo Medina Salles, 27 (04.06.93), of Starboard Way, Silvertown, was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. - Sullen Miguez, 36 (26.12.84), of Abbotswood Drive, St Georges ...

  A man was jailed for seven years at Inner London Crown Court after a loaded handgun was seized by officers executing a firearms warrant. Leonard Paynter, 30 (08.04.90) of Stanthorpe Road, Streatham, was sentenced on Wednesday, 17 March after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm, two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs (heroin and cocaine) and possession with intent to supply Class B drugs (cannabis). On Wednesday, 29 January 2020 officers from Viper, part of the Met’s Specialist Crime, executed a warrant issued under Section 46 Firearms Act 1968, at a bedsit in Stanthorpe Road, Streatham. Paynter was found inside and was arrested. A quantity of heroin and cocaine was seized, as well as several phones. Car keys were also found inside the bedsit which were linked to a car parked nearby. Officers searched the car and found a loaded handgun underneath the driver’s seat. Investigations later revealed the handgun was a copy of a .32 calibre Bel...

  Approximately £150,000 cash, 20kgs of Class A and B drugs and a suspected firearm have been seized as part of a multi-police force operation that has been months in the making. The drugs recovered were heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and cannabis. The suspected handgun was recovered at an address in Foxley Close, E8. The warrants were executed in London, all the way across to Bristol, down to Plymouth and stretching up to Aberdeen in northeast Scotland. Officers from the Met, Kent Police, Essex Police, Avon and Somerset Police, Devon and Cornwall Police and Police Scotland executed 29 warrants on the morning of Wednesday, 24 March to arrest individuals involved in the sale and distribution of Class A and B drugs. 20 of the addresses where the warrants were executed are within London. 16 people, aged between 25 and 43, were arrested and taken into custody. The arrests were on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs; one of those detained has also been arrested on susp...

A man has been arrested in north London as part of the Met’s commitment to tackling organised crime. The 27-year-old man was arrested on the morning of Thursday, 25 March, at his address in Islington following an investigation into an organised crime group, who are believed to be involved in conspiracy to import heroin and cocaine into the UK.   The warrants - as part of Operation Eternal - were carried out by officers from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command and Taskforce officers who are investigating criminal activity being carried out on encrypted devices. The man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs between March and April 2020. Intelligence obtained by officers revealed he was linked to an Organised Criminal Network who are believed to be importing both cocaine and heroin into the UK and supplying them throughout London and the Home Counties. Detective Chief Inspector Driss Hayoukane, from the Specialist Crime Command, said:   “Operation Eterna...

  A total of 14 people have been charged after officers from six police forces carried out warrants across the UK. On Wednesday, 24 March, officers from the Met's Specialist Crime Command executed 29 warrants across London and the UK as part of an operation to arrest individuals involved in the sale and distribution of Class A and B drugs. Fourteen people were charged on Wednesday, 25 March with multiple offences: [A] Jermaine Ford-Simpson, 37 (04.08.83) of Elizabeth II Avenue, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, has been charged with four counts of conspiracy to supply Class A and two counts of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs. What are class B drugs [B] Micah Ford-Simpson, 30 (18.06.90) of Southwold Road, Hackney, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply class B drugs. [C] Shaun Ford-Simpson, 35 (17.05.85) of Kit Hill Crescent, Plymouth, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A and two counts of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs. [D] Jamie Ford,...

  A Met-led operation, alongside four other police forces to bear down on county lines and violent crime, has yielded 154 arrests in London alone. Proactive units across the Met, plus the Essex, Sussex, Surrey and Thames Valley police forces worked together to stop drug dealers and high harm offenders in their tracks. Between Tuesday, 23 until the early hours of Saturday, 27 February, officers used ANPR technology along arterial routes such as motorways and A roads connecting London to regional areas to stop vehicles linked to drugs and county lines. They were also proactively on the look-out for suspicious activity in their efforts to tackle violence, the Met’s top priority. Coordinated by the Violent Crime Task Force, more than 100 officers and staff took part in the efforts spanning five counties, named Operation Pandilla. The operation resulted in: -  18   individuals referred to DIVERT, an intervention programme aimed to reduce re-offending; -  49   knives ...