Crown court orders gang to pay back drug money

EIGHT men, who made more than £1 million through their involvement in trafficking cocaine into Leicestershire, have been ordered to repay it.

The gang was jailed for nearly 70 years combined back in 2017/18 after an investigation by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) uncovered the Class A drugs conspiracy between the East Midlands county and Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire.

At Leicester Crown Court on August 12, the final defendant was given a Confiscation Order. At previous hearings in July and May, seven others were found to have benefitted from the following amounts during the conspiracy, this included Daniel Witheridge, aged 33 and formerly of Loughborough, who was found to have benefitted from £57,166.63, with £6,961.63 identified as being available to pay.

EMSOU Detective Inspector Lee Hunt said: “We have a variety of tools in our belt to ensure that our most serious criminals are not only removed from society, but also stripped of any profits they have made through their harmful activities.

“Under the Proceeds of Crime Act we were able to seize the criminal profits from the gang in the form of cash, copious Premium Bonds, expensive watches, cars and off-road motorcycles, personalised number plates, and a number of digital devices.

“If these men, who remain in jail, fail to pay their available amounts they face further time behind bars. The rest of the debt will remain with them and revisited and their assets reviewed until it is paid it off in full.”