Pictured above: Richard Boothman, Jay Byrne, Lee Campbell, Jason Coughlan, Terry Gardner, Andrew Hayes, Michelle Hornblow, Mohammed Khan, Kieron Logan, Richard Slater, Carlton Silvera.
HIDDEN inside a loaf of bread, police made a startling discovery – a bag of drugs beneath the crust.
Detectives found the stash hiding in a loaf of Kingsmill wholemeal after secretly watching a drug deal take place.
It was another piece in the jigsaw of evidence that helped West Midlands Police smash a network of dealers pumping cocaine, cannabis and ketamine onto the region’s streets.
The two-year undercover operation resulted in the convictions of 23 people and jail sentences totalling more than 80 years. At the top of the chain was Terry Gardner, who was jailed for ten years for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.
His lieutenants, Carlton Silvera and Richard Slater and smaller groups they were dealing to, were also convicted in a series of cases that finished yesterday.
Det Insp Bob Bradford, from Force CID, said: “An organised crime group has been removed from our communities.
“These offenders used very sophisticated methods to transport drugs, demonstrating high levels of deceit. They were also very organised.
“They were intent on making money through the distribution of harmful substances, which would go on to cause misery among those most vulnerable.”
A covert surveillance operation was launched in April 2009 following a tip- off about drug dealing in Cannock, Staffordshire.
It led them to Gardner, 27, from Kitts Green, and his trusted sidekicks, Silvera, 36, from Birmingham, and 30-year-old Slater, from Darlaston.
Gardner sold drugs to smaller crime groups who moved them through networks of dealers before the narcotics finally hit the streets.
Det Insp Bradford said: “We observed people meeting Gardner and the deals being done. We put together the elements to prove the case.”
During the investigation officers seized £180,000-worth of drugs, more than £80,000 in cash – at one address they found money wrapped in Christmas paper – and restrained £400,000-worth of assets.
They also uncovered a number of cannabis factories.
Det Insp Bradford said an investigation was underway to strip the crooks of their ill-gotten gains.
Special casework lawyer, Neil Fielding, from the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: “We have made a substantial impact.”
