Man jailed for conspiring to bring heroin worth thousands from Liverpool into GloucestershireA third man has been jailed after attempting to bring heroin worth hundreds of thousands of pounds into Gloucestershire from Liverpool.
Haitam Jaouhar, aged 27, from Snowdrop Close in Abbeymead, was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison after appearing at court on Friday.
All three men pleaded guilty at an earlier court appearance to being involved in a conspiracy to supply heroin from the Liverpool area down into Gloucester.
In December 2015, Andrew Slattery, aged 57 from New Red Rock Close in Liverpool, was sentenced to five years nine months and Stephen Farrelly, aged 48, from Whitehall Close in Liverpool was sentenced to eight years.
As well as being sentenced for his part in the drug conspiracy Slattery was also sentenced to a further three months for failing to disclose a passcode or PIN to a mobile telephone that he had used during the conspiracy, the first time that a person has been convicted of this offence in Gloucestershire.
Jaouhar and Slattery were both arrested on Sunday March 22 2015 after police officers observed Slattery driving his black Hackney carriage taxi when he arrived at an address in Blaisdon Close, Gloucester.Slattery briefly visited a flat before leaving and driving back to the M5. Police entered the address on Blaisdon Close where they found Jaouhar. Five packages were seen to be thrown from one of the windows at the address and these were recovered and found to contain over two kilograms of heroin.
Shortly afterwards Slattery was stopped in his vehicle as he travelled north on the M6 motorway. When his vehicle was searched it was found to contain almost £28,000 in cash in a carrier bag.
A thorough investigation by Gloucestershire police Serious and Organised Crime Unit discovered that this practice of using Slattery to deliver drugs from Liverpool to Gloucester had been going on for several months and in total officers identified over fifteen identical trips from June 2014 onwards.
Stephen Farrelly, who is also a taxi driver in Liverpool, was also identified as being involved in the conspiracy to move the drugs and he was arrested with the assistance of Merseyside police in July 2015.
The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Constable Gary Forster, said: "Heroin is typically sold on the street for £10 per 0.1 grams. Therefore two kilograms sold in this way could be worth £200,000 at street level, which would represent a large profit on the £28,000 that Slattery appeared to receive for the drugs."
"If the previous fifteen or more trips were for identical quantities of drugs then it becomes clear just how much money had been made in this way before the police intervened. Breaking up a supply route on this scale will have a significant impact on the drugs market in Gloucestershire"
Detective Sergeant Matt Phillips from Gloucestershire Police's Serious and Organised Crime Unit added: "We acknowledge that Slattery and Farrelly may have been operating under instruction on behalf of other persons in the Merseyside area and it was these other persons who may have kept the majority of the money."
"We know that people who deal in drugs regularly look for others to carry the risks for them and transport the drugs around the country. We have increasingly seen taxi drivers used for this purpose. We hope that these sentences will act as a deterrent to anyone tempted to try and make a quick profit on a 'no questions asked' basis."I would like to thank all the officers and staff who were involved for their hard work in what was a complicated and prolonged investigation to accurately show just how long that this had been going on for."
If anyone has any concerns about drug dealing in their area, or know someone who they are worried may be getting involved in drug dealing then please call Gloucestershire police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555. 111.
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http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Ma ... z41vstk45Q
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