South Wales Echo

Gangsters who flooded town with crack jailed for36years

- PHILIP DEWEY Court corrsponde­nt philiip.dewey@walesonlin­e.co.uk

A “MAJOR” county lines drug gang operating from London flooded Bridgend with high quality heroin and crack cocaine.

Members of the gang were sentenced to a total of 36 years’ imprisonme­nt.

The “Goldie” organised crime group (OCG) was responsibl­e for selling a total of 3.29kg of heroin and crack cocaine between October 19, 2018, and May 23, 2019.

The group was run by Caine MorrisMcGi­bbon, aka Goldie, who controlled the line from south London, with the assistance of eight associates.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on March 15 heard Santana Donegan and Dejuan Bell trafficked the drugs from London to south Wales and controlled the hands-on dealing to customers.

Menna Thomas allowed her premises in Pencoed to be used as a base for the ‘Goldie’ line to operate from, where the drugs were prepared and stored ahead of distributi­on to class A users in and around the Bridgend area.

John Hauxwell hired the vehicle which was used by himself and gang members to deliver the class A drugs. Shaquile Oduleye and Tenika Brown facilitate­d the transfers of money from their accounts to Morris-McGibbon.

Aisha Mills and Joanne Gordon allowed their premises in south London to store wholesale quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, cutting agents and weapons along with facilitati­ng money transfers for Morris-McGibbon, who also trafficked a 16-year-old boy to work as part of his drug dealing enterprise.

Morris-McGibbon, Donegan, Bell, Thomas and Hauxwell were convicted of drugs traffickin­g offences. Oduleye, Brown, Mills and Gordon pleaded guilty to offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Morris-McGibbon, 26, of London, was sentenced to 11 years and six months’ imprisonme­nt. Donegan, 23, of Camberwell, London, was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonme­nt. Bell, 24, of Lambeth, London, was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonme­nt. Thomas, 29, of Pencoed, was sentenced to six years and six months’ imprisonme­nt. Hauxwell, 46, of Brackla, Bridgend, was sentenced to a suspended sentence of two years. Oduleye, 27, of Lambeth, London, was sentenced to a community order. Brown, 31, of Lambeth, London, was

sentenced to a community order. Mills, 26, of Croydon, London, was sentenced to a community order. Gordon, 49, of London, was sentenced to a community order.

Following the hearing, Detective Sergeant Richard Gregory of South Wales Police said: “We have disrupted a major county line drug dealing gang jailing nine people involved in a significan­t organised conspiracy after a fiveyear operation which has taken a large number of dangerous people and substances off the streets.

“The case saw officers trawling through a vast amount of media data, phone analysis, automatic number plate recognitio­n (ANPR) along with forensic and tactical enforcemen­ts

which needed overlaying in order to put forward a meticulous prosecutio­n case.

“We will continue to proactivel­y target those we believe to be involved in drugs and use the powers we have to make sure their activity is disrupted.”

Detective Constable Adam Yeates, of South Wales Police, said: “County lines crime continues to be a problem which often involves the exploitati­on of vulnerable individual­s in the supply of illegal drugs which causes harm to our communitie­s. This sentence sends a clear message that individual­s involved in the supply and transporta­tion of harmful drugs into our communitie­s will be brought to justice and dealt with robustly.”

 ?? ?? Caine Morris-McGibbon
Caine Morris-McGibbon
 ?? ?? Santana Donegan
Santana Donegan
 ?? ?? Menna Thomas
Menna Thomas
 ?? ?? Dejuun Bell
Dejuun Bell

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