Three jailed over cocaine plot on ‘industrial scale’
AMAN and his trusted lieutenant were running an “industrial scale” cocaine-trafficking operation shipping large amounts of the Class A drug to communities across south Wales and beyond, a court has heard.
Scaffolder Daniel Baker, from Port Talbot, ran the organised crime group, while Steven Hughes, from Abercynon, was the courier responsible for driving large quantities of cash and drugs around south Wales.
The two men have been jailed for a total of 20 years, while a third member of the group, Mark Lapper, has been jailed for his part in the conspiracy which involved distributing drugs in Oxfordshire on behalf of the gang.
Swansea Crown Court heard the gang’s operations were uncovered after police carried out a raid on Baker’s house in Sandfields, Port Talbot, on August 18, 2021, as part of Operation Formby.
Paul Hobson, prosecuting, said officers recovered a significant quantity of the Class B drug ketamine, cutting or mixing agents, three mobile phones, a stun gun disguised as a torch, and some £42,000 in cash, along with a cash-counting machine.
Messages on one of the phones showed 30-year-old Baker had been involved, with others, in supplying cocaine between 2015 and 2018. The prosecutor said some of the messages showed the scale of the operation.
Messages found on another of Baker’s phones showed a more recent conspiracy – the one involving Hughes and Lapper. Mr Hobson said while Baker was responsible for sourcing the cocaine, 46-year-old Hughes was a trusted courier who made deliveries across south Wales, and to Bath. He also collected and transported large amounts of money.
The court heard this conspiracy involved around nine kilos of the Class A drug sourced and supplied over the summer of 2021 and was worth more than £1m. Part of that nine kilos of cocaine – around half a kilo – went to 41-year-old Lapper in Oxfordshire for onward supply.
The court heard that when Baker was initially interviewed he denied being involved in supplying drugs, and said the money found at his address came from his scaffolding business. In his interview Hughes accepted buying cocaine from Baker and running “errands” for him. Lapper, aged 41, accepted in his interview that he was a user of cocaine, and accepted giving cocaine to others.
Daniel Jeffrey Baker, of Silver Avenue, Sandfields, Port Talbot, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine, possession of ketamine with intent to supply, and to possession of a prohibited weapon – the stun gun, which the court heard was not in working order – when he appeared for sentencing.
Steven Hughes, of Cross Street, Ynysboeth, Abercynon, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and to possession of a small amount of cannabis which was on him when he was arrested when he appeared with his co-defendant.
Mark Timothy Lapper, of Anderson Place, East Hanney, Wantage, Oxfordshire, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Christopher Rees, for Baker, said the defendant now wants to take an Open University course in substance misuse counselling.
Andrew Taylor, for Hughes, said for 20 years his client had worked as a Sky engineer and, save for the matters before the court, was hard-working.
Christopher Rees, representing Lapper as well as Baker, invited the court to draw a distinction between Lapper’s role in the conspiracy and that of the two co-accused.
Judge Geraint Walters said it was plain that Baker had been running a cocaine supply business on an “almost industrial scale”, using Hughes as his “right-hand man”.
With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas Baker was sentenced to 12 years in prison; with a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Hughes was sentenced to eight years in prison; with a one-quarter discount for his guilty plea Lapper was sentenced to three years in prison. They will serve up to half their sentences in prison before being released on licence.