SNAPS, CRACK DEALS & COPS
CARDIFF DRUG DEALER CAUGHT OUT WHEN POLICE FOUND PHOTOS OF HIM POSING WITH WADS OF CASH, FANCY WATCHES AND FAST CARS
A DRUG dealer was caught on camera posing with large amounts of cash he had made from supplying Cardiff with heroin and crack cocaine.
Kenechi Ochereobia controlled the whole operation through a central mobile phone but ran a network of drugs couriers with his brother Oluchi.
Officers found about £23,000 in cash hidden in Kenechi’s Cardiff home last October as well as several pictures showing him posing with large amounts of money – all proceeds of his drug dealing.
He tried to hide his involvement by pretending to be a legitimate clothes distributor, while in reality he was getting younger gang members to run drugs across the country.
Kenechi and his brother contacted hundreds of numbers via text when they had supplies of drugs available, the Metropolitan Police said.
The brothers would receive orders and then instruct others to supply the users in Norwich. Their couriers would then collect the money in exchange for the drugs in Norwich.
The operation was uncovered after an investigation by the Met’s Trident and Area Crime Command, with support from colleagues from South Wales Police and Norfolk Constabulary.
The Trident investigation was launched in March 2016 as officers became aware of a drugs supply network they believed was operating out of London to supply drugs in and around the Norwich area.
Kenechi Ochereobia, 25, of Foster Drive, Penylan, Cardiff, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs alongside his brother Oluchi, 22, of Mandeville Street, Hackney, at Blackfriars Crown Court.
Police enquiries revealed Kenechi was hiring vehicles and was travelling between Cardiff, London and Norwich in the hire cars to facilitate the dealing and oversee operations.
Kenechi was stopped in a hire car and arrested in Norwich in connection with an unrelated matter on June 10 last year, along with Frankie Dos Santos.
Officers also searched a nearby address the pair had just visited and found Elliot Murawski along with £6,000 in cash hidden inside an oven at the house.
Murawski, 26, of Riverside Road, Norwich, was also arrested but was released from custody while enquiries continued.
However, Murawski was stopped and arrested again on August 30 at Birchanger Services and was found in possession of approximately £3,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine.
Officers were able to demonstrate that Murawski was a key part of the distribution network and was regularly in contact with Kenechi.
Further enquiries led officers to identify Calvyn Green, 25, of Keyworth Close, Hackney, as being linked to the network and he was arrested on September 6 at Ipswich Railway Station on a London-bound train from Norwich.
He was found in possession of almost £2,500 in cash, as well as mobile phones that had been used to communicate with both Kenechi and those he was supplying the drugs to.
Two weeks later, officers stopped and arrested Jaivon Prince, 20, of Daubney Road, Hackney, at Liverpool Street Station.
Prince initially denied having any drugs in his possession, but after officers searched his home address and found wraps of heroin and crack cocaine with a street value of around £20,000; he admitted to having two packets of drugs concealed within his body.
Prince was taken to hospital, where hundreds of wraps of heroin and cocaine were recovered, totalling about £2,000.
The six men were all subsequently charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs – namely heroin and crack cocaine.
Murawski and Prince both pleaded guilty to the conspiracy. The other four were all found guilty following a trial.
All six are due to be sentenced on May 26.
Murawaski was also previously charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
Prince was also previously charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs to which he pleaded guilty.