SEVEN men were jailed for more than 40 years yesterday for their parts in a sophisticated £6m drugs ring.

Fatos Hamzaraj, Guglielmo Rossi, Paul Boulton, Paul Bunney, Jack Jones, Michael Crossley and Christopher Hemming all appeared at Bristol Crown Court yesterday to hear their fate from Judge Michael Roach.

In the first case of its kind for Wiltshire Police, the entire hierarchy of the organised crime gang, which also included four other men, was taken out during a 10-month investigation between January and October 2011.

Using surveillance and targeted raids, officers swooped several times on the conspirators, arresting several lieutenants in May and July during raids on Newburn Crescent and Enterprise House, in Cheney Manor Industrial Estate.

In total, cocaine worth £250,000 – some with 97 per cent purity – and 120kg of the cutting agent benzocaine, as well as three strong-arm presses and a Russian 9mm semi-automatic pistol were recovered by police.

Judge Roach outlined the roles and subsequent jail terms of each defendant in turn, beginning with Albanian gang leader Hamzaraj, 31, of Hatherley Court who was handed 12 years imprisonment.

He said: “The supply of cocaine is in my experience widespread in the Swindon area.

“The trade in cocaine is a thoroughly unpleasant trade which brings misery and degradation to those who are users of the drug, their families and the wider community.

“To a greater or lesser extent each of the defendants involved themselves in this unpleasant trade and anyone who takes part must expect immediate prison sentences.

“Mr Hamzaraj, of all these defendants you were the leading light in this conspiracy.

“You took an active part from its inception in January 2011 until your arrest in October 2011.

“It is clear this was an extensive operation and the seized amount of very high purity cocaine points to that fact.

“The case is aggravated by your continuation after the arrests of Thomson and Boulton and your recruitment of others to take their place.”

Hamzaraj’s associate Boulton, 29, of Brunel Crescent was handed eight years in jail, with the judge describing the qualified electrician’s role as an organiser, arranging the purchase and pick up of 80kg of benzocaine from a supplier in London.

Meanwhile, nightclub manager Rossi, who stored a barrel of benzocaine at Angelo’s in the town centre, was given six years imprisonment after admitting being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession of the Russian handgun without a certificate.

Chris Hemming, 33, of Pendlebury Court, was given six years in prison following his conviction at trial, and Judge Roach said: “You permitted your home to be used by Mr Thomson as a safe house for the drug to be stored and cut.

“You were immensely foolish to involve yourself in this conspiracy.”

Crossley, 28, of Woodcutter Mews, and Jones, 21, of Town End Road, Faringdon, both played minor roles including making deliveries and facilitating production and were sentenced to four years and three years in jail respectively.

Bunney, 33, of Elm Close, Lyneham, who was paid £200 to travel to London to collect a shipment of benzocaine and cocaine, was handed 20 months in prison.

Earlier in 2011 four other men linked with the gang were sentenced including Stuart Thomson, 34, who was jailed for five years and four months for possession with intent to supply class A drugs; Luke Blackmore, 29, who was given two and a half years for being concerned in the supply of class A drugs; Dixie Dean, 30, who was handed two years for possession with intent to supply class A drugs and Paul Sinnett, 34, who was jailed for two years for possession with intent to supply.

Bust was a first for our police force

POLICE used covert surveillance and strategically times strikes to take out an organised crime gang responsible for importing cocaine into Swindon.

Seven out of 11 men associated with the gang were jailed yesterday.

Speaking afterwards, senior investigating officer Det Insp Steve Kirby said: “This is the first time Wiltshire Police has taken out an entire organised crime group – from the street dealers to those at the top.

“It highlights Wiltshire Police’s dedication to tackling this type of crime which has such a devastating effect on our local communities.

“In 2011 we identified an organised crime group working in Swindon that was responsible for the large scale distribution of cocaine.

“It had a hierarchical structure with the head of the group, an Albanian, Fatos Hamzaraj, who lived within Swindon, coordinating the distribution network.

“Through surveillance, analytical work and working with other agencies, police believed cocaine was being brought into the country in cars specially adapted to conceal Class A drugs and mixed with other cutting agents such as benzocaine, at different locations and then distributed throughout Swindon.

“Specialist officers have put the total approximate street value of the drugs seized at £250,000 but some of the cocaine we seized had a purity of 97 per cent – the purest the drug can be, so this figure could be much higher.

“Although the live police investigation spanned 10 months in 2011, it is important to note that some of the offenders were arrested and charged during this period as well as the end of it.
Supt Gavin Williams said: “This operation is a great example of the cross-force working – from local Neighbourhood Police Teams to our specialist crime team.

“Organised crime causes widespread misery in our communities by creating a domino effect of crimes being committed – many of the lower level offences designed to fund the more serious.

“Members of these groups also prey on the most vulnerable in our society – be that by plying them with drugs or forcing them to break the law for their benefit.”