‘Stunned’ by drugs ring link
TRADERS SHOCKED BY DISCOVERY OF OPERATION ‘UP THE ROAD’
BUSINESSPEOPLE are stunned that a man who lived “30 seconds up the road” from them was linked to an international drugs ring.
Cocaine and cannabis was shipped under false names to legitimate addresses to dupe border officials.
The parcels were disguised as deliveries of clothes, shot glasses and ashtrays.
On-and-off couple Orvil Brown and longtime care worker Jaurdan Scarlett acted together to import cannabis.
Scarlett was not involved in the cocaine importation, however.
Packages arrived from America, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Some packages were seized by the UK Border Force but others were delivered as intended.
A number of addresses were used either linked to Brown or Scarlett, or linked to both of them.
Brown, 54, lived in the Pine View tower block at The Woodlands in Radford.
Businesses in the area were shocked to hear of the operation.
Anthony Turton, 64, owner of The Computer Shop, in Hartley Road, said: “It’s a bit of a surprise that there’s been such an organisation here.
“Obviously, there are drugs about – but you don’t usually hear about the chain of supply.
“You do get the odd whiff of marijuana – people smoking it walking about the streets.
“I would say alcohol is more of a problem around here than drugs.”
Other tradespeople compared the operation to something out of a film.
Josh Meek, 23, manager at the Drapers Gun Centre, in Hartley Road, said that he has seen similar things on TV and wondered if that had been the inspiration behind it.
Mr Meek said: “It’s going to sound awful – but it doesn’t shock me at all.
“Border security’s way of controlling things is poor.
“Yes it’s definitely [like something you see in a film] – 90 percent of films and series that come out now are all about gangsters smuggling drugs and different ways of doing it, which some people clearly try to do themselves and that’s what happens.
“In regards to the size of the matter [it is surprising] – in the time that I’ve been here nothing extraordinarily big has happened.
“So having such a big issue happen that’s only 30 seconds up the road – it’s weird.
“Just shows you how close things can get before you realise anything.”
Just under five kilos of cannabis – valued somewhere between £20,000 and £48,000 – was intercepted and the conspiracy lasted just over five-and-half years
Just under half a kilo of cocaine, worth between £15,000 and £24,000, was seized and that was imported in a further conspiracy, lasting over four years.
One parcel inside two silver foil packages had cocaine with 66 percent purity and weighed 247.04 grams. The street value was between £9,880 and £24,700.
The plot came crashing down when the Border Force intercepted a parcel from Chicago intended for Scarlett’s home address with a fictitious name on the address label.
Inside was 4.22 kilos of cannabis.
An undercover officer delivered the parcel. The person who received it at the door was Brown who said his name was “Michael”.
Both defendants were arrested. The delivered package was recovered.
Brown pleaded guilty to conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of cocaine and cannabis and he was jailed for five years.
The court heard that Brown sent nearly £35,000 to Jamaica, which is now the subject of a proceeds of crime application.
Mother-of-two Scarlett, 31, of Arnside Road, Sherwood, pleaded guilty to conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of cannabis.
She was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 12 months. She is required to complete 20 rehabilitation activity days and 120 hours of unpaid work.
She is said to have sent over £9,000 to four different people in Jamaica and this cash is also now the subject of a proceeds of crime application. Steven Gosnell, in mitigation for Scarlett, said the defendants had been in an onand-off relationship for 12 years. Scarlett had a “lesser role” in the offences.