ASSETS SEIZED
Drugs kingpin must cough up £30,000 of his illegal gains or spend another 2 years in jail
Convicted drug dealer Gavin Thorman has possessions taken by police in £30k order to recover his ill-gotten gains
THE kingpin behind a ruthless gang of dealers who flooded North Wales with drugs must pay back more than £30,000 from his ill-gotten gains.
Gavin Thorman, 37, formerly of Caernarfon, benefited to the tune of almost £300,000 after conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis brought in from Merseyside and Manchester.
He was jailed for 12 years in April last year following a massive investigation under Operation Scorpion, a North Wales Police initiative to combat serious crime.
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Mold Crown Court last Thursday heard Thorman made £296,900 from his illegal enterprise.
Judge Niclas Parry made an order for Thorman, who was not present at the hearing, to cough up the £30,782.50 available from his gains within three months.
Assets which police have confiscated include two vehicles – a Volkswagen Golf and a Volkswagen Caddy – and a speedboat.
If he does not pay back the total in that period he will have an additional two-and-ahalf years added to his prison sentence.
An application for a Serious Crime Prevention Order was adjourned until August 23 as Thorman must be present when one is made – he will appear at Mold Crown Court for that hearing via video link from prison.
In total, Thorman and his 25 associates received more than 127 years behind bars – the most significant sentencing North Wales has ever seen for one investigation.
The sentencing came at the end of a five-year covert investigation – one of the biggest ever conducted by North Wales Police – which has cost many thousands of pounds. Detectives recovered 1.24kg of cocaine valued at £101,799, as well as 5.8kg of cannabis and plants worth £97,770.
Information supplied by local police and the community helped detectives uncover drugs stashed in various houses in the Caernarfon area.
Thorman was identified as the kingpin behind a ruthless network of dealers in Caernarfon, Liverpool and Manchester who were intent on profiteering from drugs.
But the gang was smashed after painstaking surveillance work by 200 officers from North Wales, Cheshire, Merseyside and Manchester, who followed their movements between North Wales and north west England, as well as tracking their mobile phones.
Detective Inspector Arwyn Jones said this was all part of Operation Scorpion, North Wales Police’ continuing campaign to hit organised crime “where it hurts”.
He said: “North Wales Police is comitted to rid the streets of North Wales of those who cause serious harm and pose the greatest risk to our communities.
“The motivation of organised criminals is often money. They try to accumulate assets and wealth from their crimes and we will do everything in our power to stop them.
“Operation Scorpion will continue to focus on those who negatively affect the quality of life and wellbeing of our communities.
“No stone will be left unturned in order to identify criminal assets of people involved in serious crime and we will make North Wales a hostile environment for criminals to operate within.”