Shropshire Star

Men jailed for £1.3 cannabis operation

Twelve men, including one from Mid Wales, have been jailed for their part in a £1.3 million cannabis operation.

Published
Part of the operation

Mark John Roberts, from Pengoes, Machynlleth, was running a cannabis farm at his home and had links to Merseyside cannabis criminals.

Police uncovered the farm and charged a 12-man gang, who were sentenced to a combined total of 39 years over two days of court hearings at Liverpool Crown Court earlier this month.

The gang was led by Gary Long and Peter Snape from Fazakerly in Liverpool, and grew plants of such quality and in such professional conditions that a police drug expert described the 86kg yield as the “most valuable he had ever seen”.

When police raided the homes of some of the defendants after uncovering the farms, they found evidence of a lifestyle bought with drug money.

Expensive cars, watches and designer clothing were found along with £30,000 in cash.

Detectives from Titan, the north-west regional organised crime unit, worked with local forces to investigate the gang, which set up its first cannabis farm at a rural property in Aberdwr, South Wales in 2013.

The farm was dismantled by police and co-accused Roberts was arrested but not charged.

Roberts came to the police’s attention again when a cannabis farm was spotted near Machynlleth – his home town – and links to Merseyside cannabis criminals were established.

Titan officers identified a third, much larger farm house, being used to grow cannabis, this time in Essington in Staffordshire.

The farmhouse had been rented in a false name since 2013, and the police investigation established a pattern of behaviour where the Merseyside men working for Long and Snape would travel to the cannabis farms to tend to their crops, often doing a six-hour round-trip just to spend a short period of time inside.

The gang were caught when they hurriedly cleared out dozens of plants from a property that was due to be inspected by the local authority landlord, leaving evidence behind.

In a series of coordinated raids by Titan and officers from Merseyside, Cheshire, Staffordshire and Dyfed-Powys police forces, 13 people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cultivate cannabis and money laundering.

Long, 30 and Snape, 29, who ran the operation through a series of clandestine meetings in gyms and cafes in Liverpool, pleaded guilty and were each jailed for five years and five months.

Paul Ward, 36 from Walton, who used his electrician skills to repair the illegally diverted electricity supply in one of the cannabis farms in Wales, was jailed for 14 months. A host of other men were jailed, including Roberts, 51, for two years and four months.

Following the case, Detective Inspector Nick Hughes from Titan said the sentences should sound as a warning to others.

He said: “These substantial jail sentences should serve as a warning to people about the consequences of becoming involved in organised crime.

“The cannabis this gang were growing was lining their pockets, enabling them to live comfortable lifestyles whilst flooding their communities with drugs.

“It was a sophisticated set up capable of producing far more crops in a year than most other cannabis farms we’ve ever seen.

“Every plant the police seize represents money being taken from the pockets of criminals and I’d encourage the public to keep telling us where these farms are so we can take action.”

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.