Camera monitored Shrewsbury drug deals, jury told
Secret recording equipment and a hidden camera were installed at a Shrewsbury car sales business to monitor a gang of Shropshire drug dealers, a court heard.
Covert surveillance of the gang members' movements in and around Telford and Shrewsbury was also used during an extensive West Mercia police inquiry, which was codenamed Operation Active.
A jury at Stafford Crown Court has been shown extracts of the footage filmed at the Phoenix Car Centre in Shrewsbury, said to be at the hub of a major drugs conspiracy turning over vast amounts of cash.
Extracts of sound recordings and phone and text traffic involving more than two dozen people were also heard by the jury in the trial of 32-year-old Benjamin Pengilly, of Longden Coleham, Shrewsbury. He denies conspiring to supply cocaine.
Mr Michael Duck QC, prosecuting, told the jury the police operation produced overwhelming evidence which led to 26 other people pleading guilty to their part in a conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis between July 2011 and July last year.
He said that two Telford men, Jonathan Rochford and Scott Dodd, who ran the Phoenix Car Centre in Ditherington Road were among the leading players in the supply of Class A drugs.
At court yesterday Detective Sergeant Mick Holden, of Telford CID, confirmed the use of covert recordings and surveillance at the Phoenix Car Centre.
He said that police had gathered recordings of conversations, film of some of the drug dealers at the business premises, monitored text messages and mobile phone traffic, and had watched those involved in drug and cash exchanges in Shropshire and other areas.
The jury heard examples of several conspirators being watched and caught with quantities of drugs and weapons. The prosecution allege Pengilly was 'caught red-handed' after obtaining an estimated £40,000 worth of cocaine while being watched by police.
He was the driver of a car that was followed to the Knutsford Service Area on the M6 in Cheshire.
When Pengilly arrived back in Shrewsbury both he and another man, Philip Jennings, were arrested.
The trial continues.
By Arthur Mills
