Thames Valley Police smash local drugs network

Elliot Thomson, aged 38, of Bottom House Lane, Tring has been described as the 'key player' in an organised drugs running operation operating through Liverpool and Scotland from January 2019 to July 2019.

He would co-ordinate 'multiple exchanges' of 'cash and cocaine', according to Thames Valley Police

He pleaded guilty in January 2020 to one count of conspiracy to supply cocaine and one count of conspiracy to supply cannabis.

He was sentenced to nine years’ and ten months’ imprisonment for conspiracy to supply cocaine and seven years’ and four month’s imprisonment for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Thompson's right hand man, Isa Ali, aged 39 from Aylesbury has also been sentenced.

Ali would collect large quantities of cocaine from Liverpool and Scotland, and served as a 'courier', bringing the illegal stash to Aylesbury.

He also supplied the Carmarthen area of Wales.

He pleaded guilty in January 2020 to one count of conspiracy to supply cocaine and one count of conspiracy to supply cannabis.

He was today sentenced to seven years’ and two months’ imprisonment for conspiracy to supply cocaine and four years’ and four months’ for conspiracy to supply cannabis, the sentences will run concurrently.

Thomson and Ali also travelled to Portugal, Spain and Morocco in June 2019, where the pair organised the importation of between 1.5 and 3.5 tonnes of cannabis from Morocco into the UK via Spain.

A further male, Mark Greenhow, aged 44, of Columbine Grove, Evesham was also convicted for his involvement in this conspiracy, where he was instrumental in brokering the deal between the parties.

Greenhow was also convicted of growing cannabis at his home address in Carmarthen, where police discovered two seperate cannabis factories in 2019.

Greenhow pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import cannabis and one count of cultivation of cannabis in January 2020, he has been sentenced to one year and two months’ imprisonment suspended for two years for conspiracy to import cannabis and 20 weeks suspended for two years for cultivation.

Also convicted and sentenced for their parts in the cocaine conspiracy were Devon Blackman, aged 27, from Witham Way, Aylesbury; a local level dealer and collector of cash on behalf of the network and Danielle Shaw, aged 28, of Whitehead Way, Aylesbury, who acted mainly as a custodian, providing safe storage for the cocaine on behalf of Isa Ali.

Marcel Morgan, aged 28, of Davis Avenue, Bridgend, Wales; who collected cocaine from the organised crime group for onward supply to a separate Welsh customer base, Luke Evans, aged 29, of Millfield Close, Marsh Gibbon, Aylesbury who acted as a courier, collecting a kilo of cocaine from Scotland on the 6 July 2019, and Stephen Kazeri, aged 34, of Penn Road, Aylesbury who accompanied Luke Evans to Scotland on the 5 and 6 July 2019. They all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine in January 2020 and were sentenced as follows:

Blackman was sentenced to three years’ and two months imprisonment, Shaw was sentenced to three years’ and four months’ imprisonment, Morgan was sentenced to two years’ and six months’ imprisonment, Evans was sentenced to three years’ and nine months’ imprisonment, and Kazeri was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.

All of the offenders were sentenced at a hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday by Judge Sheridan.

Thames Valley Police’s Superintendent Katy Barrow-Grint, said: “Thames Valley Police remains committed through our Stronghold operation to tackle serious and organised crime and exploitation through partnership.

“This investigation involved significant partnership working with Police Scotland, Merseyside Police and Dyfed Powys Police among a number of others in order to dismantle this organised crime gang and loosen its significant and detrimental impact on the Aylesbury community.

“Thames Valley Police in its new campaign is highlighting the True Costs of cocaine use by the public and showing the reality of how it’s produced and supplied.

“Shockingly in this case some of the drugs seized contained only 17% cocaine. The other 83% was Phenacetin, a substance that was used to relieve pain but was banned in the 1980s as it was found to be carcinogenic and have kidney damaging effects.

“This highlights that when you buy cocaine you never know what you are actually taking and the serious health effects it could have on you.

“Thames Valley Police remains fully committed to targeting those who seek to make the lives of others a misery through drug dealing and serious and organised crime, and also to raising awareness of the impact that purchasing drugs can have on you and others.”

Senior Crown Prosecutor Rebecca Waller for the CPS said: “We worked closely with Thames Valley Police to build a case to prove the defendants’ involvement in this major drugs trafficking operation and ultimately disrupt their network.

“It took evidence from phone conversations, CCTV, forensics, phone location data and police surveillance to link the gang’s activities and, as a result, today’s sentences mean that this group of criminals are no longer on our streets supplying dangerous drugs.”