ORGANISED DRUGS RING

ther afield. The raids began with detailed briefings for officers.

This information is crucial – officers need to know not just who they are going to arrest but also to have an idea of what they will face when they knock the door down and burst into a property. Though thankfully rare, it is not unknown for officers to encounter booby traps in a target property – at the very least they are likely to be unwelcome visitors.

The raids themselves were led by specialists in gaining entry to properties, and when the teams go in they go in hard and fast, using a crow bar and a red battering ram known informally as “the key” – which is certainly a key which seems to open most doors.

Doors were kicked in, and suspects arrested.

Then the painstaking work of compiling cases against each suspect began, with detectives linking times and locations of deals with phone records and usage, CCTV or surveillance footage, and forensic traces recovered from the wraps of drugs.

Presented with the weight of evi- dence against them, almost all the defendants pleaded guilty – a handful fought the charges but were convicted at trial.

Eventually 46 people were jailed at Swansea Crown Court for conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine, supplying Class A drugs, being concerned in the supply of drugs, or offering drugs for supply.

Barrister Ian Wright, who prosecuted the Blue Thames cases, described the gangs’ operations as “organised and highly lucrative drug supply conspiracies”.

The court hearings – which stretched over many months – revealed a wealth of detail about the operation of the gangs, about the huge amount of money they were making, and about how they exploited addict-dealers in the city.

The court heard that gangs from Newport – who had split off from larger gangs and gone into drug dealing on their own – were making as much as £3,600 a day from their activities in Swansea. Police were able to map the movements of the dealers from the activities of their phones, with the dealers either driving to Swansea and Llanelli, or catching the train – always the 10.24am service from Newport – to deliver supplies of drugs. Detectives were later able to establish the gang members had toppedup their pay-as-you-go “lines” at the CK shop opposite Swansea train station.

The court also heard details of the advertising texts from the gangs’ phones to buyers – the Flash line sent texts reading “best of both” – a reference to heroin and crack cocaine being offered for sale – and promoting “mix and match” deals .

The hearings also revealed the sometimes surprising details of those involved in the gangs.

One of the dealers turned out to be a computer science student who turned to dealing between the second and third years of his degree course, while the family of another had fled war-torn Kosovo in the 1990s and settled in Britain – his father runs a successful landscaping business in London, with many wealthy clients on its books. Another was studying business at the Open University.

Other dealers were long-term Swansea addicts, used as low-level street-runners and facilitators by the gangs, whose “reward for taking part in the conspiracy was drugs for their own consumption”. In fact their reward turned out to be lengthy prison sentences.

When one was tracked down by police – after a period on the run – officers found he had a bottle containing 40 Valium tablets, heroin, cannabis and prescriptions drugs hidden in his bottom ready to smuggle into prison, where the items would be “valuable currency”.

The man in charge of Operation Blue Thames was South Wales Police detective inspector Dave Peart, who praised the work of his team.

He said: “I am immensely proud of the officers and staff who worked on this complex operation. These excellent results are testament to the professionalism and tenacity of the team.

“We will not tolerate urban street gangs operating within our area – and we are committed to disrupting and dismantling these organisations.”

Those convicted as part of Blue Thames are currently in prison, but what is often referred to as the “war on drugs” continues. Just last month heroin and cocaine, and weapons including CS spray, a baton, and a pitbull dog were seized in “county lines” police raids at houses across Morriston, Penlan, Hafod, Clydach, Neath and Swansea city centre.

And the misery caused by addiction for individuals, families and communities goes on.