HEROIN GANG TAKEN DOWN
CROOKS JAILED AFTER GMP STING
FOUR members of a class A drugdealing gang – including a grandad – have been jailed after police smashed their heroin and crack cocaine supply racket.
One of the gang gave the police a shock when officers unwittingly brought his hand grenade into their station, sparking a huge security alert.
Now the four are beginning long jail sentences following a GMP surveillance operation which led to the discovery of 1.3 kilos of heroin and cocaine.
Richard Adams, 69, a grandfather of Broom Lane, Salford, was jailed for four years after he admitted conspiracy to supply heroin by storing more than a kilo of the drug at his home.
Drug-addict Wayne Kelly, 58, of Edward Street, Harpurhey, who needs a stick to walk, was given four years in prison after he admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and conspiracy to supply cocaine. He ran the gang’s ‘safe house.’
Callum Foster, 28, of Darliston Avenue, Blackley, was handed nineand-a-half years behind bars after he admitted conspiracy to supply heroin, conspiracy to supply cocaine, possessing ammunition and possessing an improvised hand grenade.
Father-of-two Craig Farrell, 34, of Rygate Walk, Cheetham Hill, was imprisoned for eight years after he admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and possessing a stun gun.
Sarah Griffin, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court that police had the four men in the dock, and three other alleged members of their gang, under surveillance from August 2018.
Kelly’s flat on Edward Street in
Harpurhey was said to be the gang’s ‘safe house.’ Police watched as it was visited by Foster, wearing gloves, to collect drugs.
Police carried out a ‘strike day’ on November 21, 2018, after Foster had been observed meeting another alleged member of the gang at a Thai cafe in Strangeways.
Foster used his Peugeot Partner highways maintenance works van to go to the safe house and to Harpurhey shopping centre where he met Farrell before transferring to a Renault Scenic being driven by Adams, moments before police swooped.
Police found £2,250 in Farrell’s pockets as well as wraps of heroin and almost £12,000 in cash in a bag. When police raided Kelly’s ‘safe house’ on Edward Street, officers found crack cocaine, heroin and mixing agents as well as drug dealing parafernalia. Officers found more drugs and cash at Foster’s home on Darliston Avenue in Blackley. At Farrell’s home on Rygate Walk, Cheetham Hill, they found more drugs, as well as a pestle and mortar with traces of heroin in it, together with a home-made cattleprod, a crossbow, a bayonet and a ‘zombie’ knife.
Next police raided Adams’ home on Broom Lane in Salford, where they uncovered more than a kilo of heroin and cash, the court heard.
They later examined a bag found at Foster’s home back at the police station. Inside it were other bags in which shocked officers found a viable homemade black hand grenade.
The discovery prompted a huge security alert at Nexus House police station in Ashton while it was made safe by the bomb disposal squad.
Also in the bag were nine rounds of ammunition, as well as three empty bullet casings.
The judge, Mr Recorder Jones QC, accepted Foster had carried out some ‘menial tasks’ but had performed a ‘leading role’ in the conspiracy. Farrell, he said, had been involved in the ‘transportation and delivery of the drugs’ while Adams was ‘responsible for the storage’ and Farrell’s job was to ‘bash up’ the drugs.