DRUGS GANG GET 146 YEARS
ACOUNTY Lines gang who flooded North Wales and the UK with £2m worth of hard drugs have been sentenced to a total of 146 years and nine months behind bars.
The 18-strong cartel ran a lucrative and commercial enterprise with an industrial scale of heroin, cocaine and mixing agents.
Over three days, Mold Crown Court heard how kingpin Colin Jones was the “mastermind” behind the operation, but was busted when cops bugged a car and heard him plotting to have a hitman “do a double one” on former gang member, Lee Murray.
Covert officers warned Murray – also known as Lee Go or Eko – that his life was in danger and listened in as Jones and his “right hand man” David Rawling found out their target had been tipped off.
Rawling can be heard saying: “Someone’s bugged mate, sum’in’s bugged all round somewhere. Could be this f***ing car.”
The surveillance led to a wave of arrests across North Wales and Merseyside as part of Operation Tide.
The gang was targeted by the serious and organised crime unit due to their propensity for violence.
On Thursday, as six defendants were jailed, the court heard Anthony Charles Fahy, 28, was entrusted to travel from his Anglesey home to Liverpool to pick up drugs. Police followed him on his way back and arrested him.
Fahy, of Gongl Rhedyn, Cemaes Bay, was found to have cocaine and canna
bis worth between £7,000 and £12,000. He was jailed for six-and-a-half years for plotting to supply cocaine and cannabis to Wales and England.
On Friday as the last seven defendants were sentenced at Mold Crown Court, a Deeside father was said to regret drafting his daughter into the criminal activities.
Anthony James Elliott Stagg, 56, of Cable Court, Deeside, was jailed for eight years and three months while his daughter Toni Stagg, 22, Queenway, Shotton, four years.
Both distributed drugs “downstream” to drug dealers with Lisa May Tinson, 45, of Osbourne Court, Connah’s Quay.
She was jailed for sixand-a-half years for her part in the same plot to supply heroin and cocaine to Wales between January 1, 2017 and September 6, 2019.
Judge Niclas Parry said their activities had blighted north east Wales but he accepted the parent’s remorse was genuine for bringing her into the County Lines enterprise.
Also Leon Langford, 44, of Kingsley Road, Garden City, was jailed for six years for conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine to Wales.
He had become “operations manager” for the of got organised crime group when Anthony Stagg was arrested.
Peter Powell, 53, of Sealand Avenue, Garden City, Deeside provided Anthony Stagg with transport and bought top up phones.
He was jailed for fourand-a-half years for conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine to Wales between January 1, 2017 and September 6, 2019.
And James Michael Hughes, 39, of Ffordd Cae Llewellyn, Deeside, was personally handed a phone by Mr Stagg.
He also got four-and-ahalf years for the same crime.
Lee Murray aka Go, 34, of Sycamore Road, Waterloo, Merseyside, was jailed for 10 years for conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine to locations in England, Wales and Scotland between January 1, 2017
2019.
He was implicated by a package seized by Police Scotland which contained half a kilo of cocaine.
It was 69% pure and had a wholesale value of £71,000 or, if broken down to street level deals, £136,000.
Murray was said to be “second in command” to boss, Jones until they fell out when Jones suspected he was pocketing profits.
Earlier in the week, Colin Jones was jailed for 21 years and David James Rawling jailed for 15-anda-half years for conspiring to cause grievous bodily harm to Murray and for conspiring to supply Class A drugs.
On Friday, Judge, Niclas Parry commended police officers on behalf of the public for their work in solving the case. and
September 6,
He said: “This harmful operation was only ended by painstaking, patient and thorough policing.”
The success of the investigation highlighted the “enormity of the threat” of County Lines drug dealing.
DI Lee Boycott, from North Wales Police’s serious and organised crime unit, said: “This investigation does not conclude at these significant prison sentences today.
“We will now pursue court orders against the ring leaders to place conditions on their lifestyles upon their ultimate release, which will start many years from now.
“We will also forensically examine the financial affairs of those convicted, to ensure the proceeds from the drug dealing, cash or assets, are re-paid to the public purse.”