Ryan Hadfield (born 18/05/84) of Thornhill Road, Droylsden pleaded guilty to money laundering. He has been sentenced to three years and four months in jail.Roy Dowie (born 25/11/1980) of Morley Road, Radcliffe, had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs, possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of prohibited ammunition, and money laundering. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
His associate Liam Garside (born 03/07/76) of Hilldale Avenue, Blackley, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs. He has been jailed for five years.
Sean Mullaney (born 13/07/66) of Bury New Road, Heywood pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was sentenced to four years.
As part of an ongoing anti-drugs investigation officers obtained a warrant to search a flat in The Advent, off Great Ancoats Street, on 3 May 2007.
The search immediately showed evidence that the flat had been used to produce controlled drugs, specifically cocaine. About 400 grams of the drug, worth an estimated street value of £15,000, was found in the flat.
Officers also found a 25kg tub of Lidocaine, often used when 'cutting' cocaine. The amount of this adulterant was such that, along with the pure cocaine found, it is estimated the factory could produce around £1.6m of street-level cocaine.
Whilst the search was going on Dowie returned to the flat, where he was arrested for manufacturing class A drugs. His car was also subsequently searched, and cash, passports and documentation relating to a safety deposit box at a bank were found.
Later that evening Ryan Hadfield was seen sitting outside the address in a car. He was smoking cannabis so officers searched his car. Inside they found a shoebox containing £49,000. Hadfield was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and being concerned in the manufacture of class A drugs.
After interview, both men were charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine.
The investigative team was granted a warrant to access the safety deposit box, details of which were found in Dowie's car.
Inside this box they found another shoebox containing £44,000 in cash, bringing the total of money seized from the men to £93,150. They also discovered a magnum revolver and five live bullets in the box. This gun was forensically recovered, and Dowie was subsequently charged with possession of a prohibited weapon, and ammunition.
Hadfield was also charged with money laundering and possession of cannabis that day. Liam Garside, who had been paying rent for a year on the flat at the Advent, and whose name was on the lease, handed himself in to police on 7 June 2007 after numerous attempts to trace him. He too was later charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Officers also traced another one of the trio's associates who they suspected of being involved in dealing cocaine.
Sean Mullaney was staying at his mum's house in Bury and a warrant to search the address was granted. There they found a further half a kilo of cocaine, and Mullaney was subsequently charged with supplying class A drugs.
Detective Sergeant Damian Gething, from North Manchester CID said: "The factory that we discovered had the capacity to make around £1.6m worth of cocaine, which would have been sold on our streets. A large amount of a dangerous drug has been removed from circulation, and a deadly weapon seized. I am pleased with the results of this raid.
"These men were not only making copious amount of cocaine but also showed all the signs of high-level criminality like owning guns and storing thousands in cash in shoeboxes.
"We are working hard to tackle people like this, who clearly think they are above the law and can operate with impunity. As today's result shows, they were wrong."
This raid was part of Operation Gladiator - an operation dedicated to targeting criminal and anti-social behaviour that has an impact on the local community.
Greater Manchester Police is continuously gathering intelligence in order to remove these criminals from our streets. The future success of the operation relies on the information received from people across north Manchester, without which convictions like this would be much more difficult to achieve.
You Might Also Like :
0 comments:
Post a Comment