Jury convict gang caught with cocaine

yesterday afternoon after retiring at around noon on Thursday.

Gjoka, 42, from Fairlands Court in Blackheath, London, was convicted by a unanimous verdict.

Knight, 36, from Pleasant Street, Pentre; Theobold, 42, from Hill Street, Rhymney; and Evans, 37, from Union Street, Ammanford, were found guilty by majority verdict.

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

Mr Cobbe said: “The prosecution say these men were working together to bring cocaine from London down the M4 to South Wales.”

He told the jury their activities “unravelled” on March 15 after Stuart Jarman drove to London to collect cocaine from Gjoka in what prosecutors alleged was the group’s ninth drugs run.

Mr Cobbe said: “But on that occasion, the police intervened.”

Jarman, 41, from Garden City, Rhymney, pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis.

The court heard he was stopped at Membury Services on the M4, where police searched his van and found a blue plastic bag behind the driver’s seat.

Analysis revealed the pack contained 2kg of cocaine at 80% purity with a potential street value of around £450,000.

The court heard Gjoka’s handprint was found on the plastic bag the cocaine was wrapped in. Prosecutors alleged Knight led the operation in South Wales, with Theobold assisting him. They said Evans and Jarman drove to collect drugs from Gjoka in south east London.

Knight and Evans previously admitted conspiring to supply the Class B drug cannabis.

Anthony Vobe, 41, from Tregynllaeth Farm, Ammanford, also admitted the cannabis charge. But he denied any involvement with cocaine and it was ordered part way through the trial that there was no case to answer on that count.

The Recorder of Cardiff Judge Eleri Rees thanked the jury for their work.

Knight, Theobold, Gjoka and Evans were remanded in custody and are due to be sentenced at the beginning of November.