Businessman, 31, ‘at core’ of recovery firm Class A drug plot

A BUSINESSMAN involved in a taxi firm in Newport played a key role in an organised crime drug conspiracy, a jury has found.

Ryan John Milton was convicted of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A by a jury following a trial at Swansea Crown Court after he denied the charge.

The case concerned commercial drug dealing which focused on the activities of an organised crime group which “operated covertly and executed a criminal enterprise with precision” under the disguise of a car recovery business called CTP Recovery, which was based in Crawford Street in Newport. They used the guise of a legitimate business to set up clandestine meetings with individuals to provide 28kg of cocaine, worth more than £1m, between October 12, 2018, and October 14, 2019.

Milton, of George Lansbury Drive in Newport, would deliver the drugs and was at “the core of the conspiracy” as a dealer, meeting others in car parks, streets, and various other locations with the purpose of making deliveries, prosecutor Nigel Fryer had told the court.

The 31-year-old had claimed while giving evidence that he became involved with the “recovery firm” in January 2019 to help out two friends who he believed were starting up a business, adding he had become involved as they were “picking his brains for ideas” due to his experience running a Newport taxi firm, Roman Taxis, with his parents.

He claimed he was involved in tasks including repairs, recoveries, and scrap and would not get paid, adding he “would not have got involved if he knew that’s what their business was”. But the jury failed to believe his version of events.

Milton’s co-defendant, Jordan Edmonds, also charged with conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, changed his plea to guilty during proceedings during the trial. Prosecutors accepted the 29-year-old, of Croydon Court in Newport, who fled to Spain as the matters were being investigated before being extradited a week before the pandemic struck, was not the head of the organised crime group but instead played the role of a “facilitator” in the conspiracy by bringing together people who wanted to purchase drugs with the group who could supply it.

The sentencing of both men will take place at a later date to be fixed.