Pair receive prison terms over Class A drug dealing
TWO men have been sentenced to nearly 15 years in jail following a lengthy investigation into the supply of Class A drugs along the Surrey-Hants border.
Paul Neale, 26, of Reynolds Close in Sandhurst, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and was sentenced during a hearing at Winchester Crown Court last Thursday. He was jailed for seven years, eight months.
Bracknell’s Adam St George, 32, of Wrysdale, and Christopher Evans, 42, of Butler Drive, were found guilty of the same offence following a trial.
St George was sentenced to seven years, while Evans received a two-year suspended sentence and was fined £8,000.
Dilip Baloo, 28, of Seebys Oak in Sandhurst, and Nicholas Harris, 31, of Spring Gardens in Camberley, were found not guilty.
It comes as a result of Operation Quail, a cross-border investigation involving members of both Hampshire Constabulary and Thames Valley Police’s major investigation teams.
This resulted in an eightweek trial into an alleged cocaine ring, operating between May and December 2012, as well as associated money laundering offences within north Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire.
Detective Constable Frank Cregan, of Hampshire Constabulary’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said the sentences demonstrated the force’s ambition to tackle the supply of illegal drugs.
“The sentences bring a very detailed and challenging investigation to a close,” he said. “In the course of our investigation, we have seized £160,000 and just over 5kg of cocaine and amphetamine, to the street value of £417,765.
“Hampshire Constabulary will always seek to gather evidence and intelligence around those who choose to profit from involvement in these crimes and we hope that these lengthy sentences prove deterrent to others.”
Three men previously pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine between February 2012 and March last year as part of a linked investigation. They were sentenced to a total of 29 years imprisonment during a hearing at Southampton Crown Court in January.
They include former Bracknell Bees ice hockey team captain Adam Greener, who last week had his bid to have his 12-year sentence cut refused at London’s Criminal Appeal Court.