Class A drug supply gang sent to prison
ACOCAINE supplier from Runcorn has been sent down for nearly seven years after police smashed a Warrington drug ring.
Utku Tig, 32, of Lilac Crescent, was among four men imprisoned on Friday following a fourmonth covert surveillance investigation by Cheshire police’s serious and organised crime unit.
Tig was sentenced to six years and nine months at Liverpool Crown Court alongside John Large, 32, of Fairbrother Crescent, Warrington, who received eight years and nine months; Wesley Williamson, 32, of Grasmere Avenue, Warrington, was handed nine years behind bars; and Robert Musson, 34, of Bernard Avenue, Appleton, who is now starting a nine-year stretch.
The defendants had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Cheshire police said the group were believed to have supplied up to 20kg between June and October 2018.
Williamson used his home as a safe house and the gang also used an address on Biggin Court to store and package the Class A drugs.
Detectives recovered large amounts of cocaine, cutting equipment and encrypted mobile phones.
All four gang members’ roles in sourcing, storing and supplying the drug, were described as ‘significant’
Runcorn resident Tig was a trusted courier who travelled to Liverpool to collect cocaine and deliver it to the Warrington safe houses.
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Evans, of Cheshire police’s serious and organised crime unit, said: “These men were well-known in Warrington predominantly for their involvement in the wholesale supply of cocaine.
“They each played a pivotal role in controlling the drug market and reaped the rewards by gaining substantial profits The cocaine business can appear lucrative, however the downfall is far greater.
“We are determined to relentlessly pursue and disrupt those who think there is a place for organised crime in Cheshire.”
A fifth member of the group, Paul Jones, 39, of Biggin Court, Warrington, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and was sentenced to four years at Liverpool Crown Court at an earlier hearing.
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