Gang made eight trips with drugs, court told

AN alleged drugs gang made eight trips to bring cocaine from London to South Wales before being caught by police, a court was told.

Lec Gjoka, Jason Theobold, Lyndon Evans, Anthony Vobe and John Knight deny conspiring to supply the Class A drug and are on trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

In his opening speech, prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said he would invite the jury to look at the defendants’ “patterns of behaviour”.

On the second day of the trial Gaynor Broughton, an intelligence analyst for South Wales Police, explained a series of timelines to the jurors.

The charge relates to the period between August 2016 and April 2017.

Prosecutors allege the group made eight drug runs in that time before Stuart Jarman was stopped by police at Membury Services on the M4 on March 15.

Officers found nearly 2kg of cocaine at 80% purity with a potential street value of £450,000.

The intelligence analyst said evidence came from a variety of sources, such as examination of the defendants’ mobile phones.

She told the jury police also used automatic number plate recognition and CCTV.

The jury were handed a bundle of documents including a series of schedules showing all the phone contact between the defendants.

Prosecutors allege the first “drug run” was carried out in mid-August last year.

Mr Cobbe said Gjoka was based in south east London and supplied the group with cocaine, which they brought into South Wales.

He added Knight led the operation in Wales while Theobold was in regular contact with the driver and Evans drove to London on one occasion.

Prosecutors allege the group took cocaine to Vobe’s farm in Ammanford, where it was processed for onward distribution.

Stuart Jarman, 41, from Garden City in Rhymney – who prosecutors say was a driver for the group – has pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis.

Evans, 37, from Union Street in Ammanford; Vobe, 41, from Tregynllaeth Farm in Ammanford; and Knight, 36, from Pleasant Street in Pentre admit conspiring to supply cannabis.

They, plus Gjoka, 42, from Fairlands Court in Blackheath, London; and Theobold, 42, from Hill Street in Rhymney deny conspiring to supply cocaine. The trial continues. Yesterday we reported that the court heard police recovered £57,000 from Theobold’s home. That figure should have been £37,000.