Shropshire Star

Drug-dealing brothers ordered to repay cash pocketed as part of gang

Two brothers who were part of a major drugs gang have been told they must pay back some of the proceeds of crime they pocketed.

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Over 30 Police vehicles at Leighton Arches caravan site Welshpool in June 2021. Picture by Phil Blagg Photography

A judge at Mold Court Court said John Paul Power, 26, and Michael Power, 20, both of Leighton Arches in Welshpool, had made more than £1 million from their crimes.

The brothers were jailed earlier this year for their part in taking thousands of pounds of drugs into Welshpool from the Wolverhampton area. The 12 members of the gang were locked up for a combined total of more than 60 years.

John Power was jailed for was sentenced to seven years and six months and Michael Power for four years and six months in April.

At a proceeds of crime hearing Judge Niclas Parry said that it had been estimated that the joint benefit of the drug dealing had been £1,057,290.

He was told that John Power's assets were £16,370.51 and Michael Power's were £18,321.15.

John Paul Power
Michael Power. Photo: Dyfed-Powys Police

He ordered that the men must pay those sums within three months or face an extra 16 month jail sentence in default.

At their sentencing in April the court was told that the county lines drug operation involved bringing large quantities of cocaine, heroin and cannabis from the Wolverhampton area into the Leighton Arches site for distribution to Welshpool, Newtown, Knighton and other Powys towns over a number of months.

During the execution of a warrant at the Leighton Arches travellers’ site in June 2021, a major Dyfed-Powys Police operation involving 80 officers, uncovered a significant amount of drugs with a street value in the region of £25,721, as well as £45,000 of cash and assets.