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Police officers caught a crime gang red-handed with 23 kilos of cannabis and more than £62,000 in cash when they swooped on a “meeting” in a garage, a court has heard. One of the cannabis dealers goaded officers as he was being arrested by telling them it had taken them “five years to catch me” and boasting that he was making more money than they were.
Three of the gang members, including the ringleader and his trusted “lieutenant”, have been jailed at Swansea Crown Court. A proceeds of crime investigation will now be launched into the finances of the defendants, while the prosecution plans to seek a serious crime prevention order against the boss to try to control his behaviour when he is released from prison.
Tom Scapens, prosecuting, told the court the defendants were arrested in July last year as a result of Operation Aldwych, an investigation being run by Tarian – the southern Wales serious and organised crime squad – into a large-scale conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
He said on the afternoon of July 16 officers were keeping covert surveillance on a garage in Llanelli town centre and were monitoring the arrival of suspected gang members in various vehicles, including gang leader Aaron Richards in his Audi R8 car. As officers kept watch on the lock-up a Renault Traffic van arrived and bundles which looked like “rolled-up blue sleeping bags” were removed from the back while other gang members were seen chatting on mobiles. Richards, Liam Giddy and Liam Diaz then went into the garage while Liam Bartlett drove away in a van.
The court heard that a short time later the undercover cops raided the garage and found the three defendants along with tens of thousands of pounds in bundles of cash on the floor and large vacuum-sealed packages of cannabis. The prosecutor said Richards’ behaviour was “erratic” and he had to be “struck” by an officer as he tried to make off from the unit.
When detained Richards goaded police by telling them, “It has taken you five years to catch me”, and boasted about how much money he was making, saying, “I’ll only be in for a few years but I will still make more money than you”. He also told officers that he only dealt in cannabis and not Class A drugs because, “I’m not stupid”. When he was searched he was found to have £1,700 in cash in his wallet. The court heard Bartlett, who had left the scene before the raid, was detained a short distance from the garage by waiting officers. In his vehicle officers found sticky labels bearing the names of various strains of cannabis.
The prosecutor said the bundles of bank notes found on the floor of the garage totalled £62,370 while a total of 23kg of cannabis was recovered from the lock-up and from assorted vehicles parked outside. The street value of the cannabis if sold in individual deals was put at up to £230,000. The court heard that the owner of the garage had originally been arrested in connection with the offending but no evidence was subsequently offered against him.
Vacuum-packed bags of cannabis in the back of the gang’s van – some of the 23kg of cannabis recovered by police during the raid on the Llanelli garage
(Image: Tarian / South Wales Police)
Police recovered more than £62,000 in bundles of bank notes
(Image: Tarian / South Wales Police)
The court heard that a search of Bartlett’s house turned up cannabis “gummy” edibles, weighing scales, empty vacuum bags, and a zip-lock bag of cannabis. At Diaz’s property police found a “large garden room” which was being used to grow 22 cannabis plants. Under the seat of a Transit van parked on the drive outside the property police found a kilo block of cocaine and £1,000 in cash.
Diaz, Richards and Bartlett all answered “no comment ” to questions asked in interview. In his interview, Giddy said he was a trained welder and said Diaz had offered him the chance of work at his business in Tremorfa on July 16. He said after working for a few hours he accompanied Diaz to Cardiff where Diaz met two Albanian men who “put packages in the vehicle” before they returned to Llanelli where he “found himself in a garage while bundles of cash were being exchanged for drugs”. He said he had no idea about what the meeting at the garage was all about until he got there but he accepted he knew Diaz was known locally as “a large-scale cannabis dealer”.
Mr Scapens said it was the prosecution case that Richards – who also uses the name Lucas Bale – was at the head of the organisation while Bartlett was a “vital cog” in the operation and was Richards’ “lieutenant and right-hand man”. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter here
Aaron Richards, aged 32, of Coldstream Street, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply, conspiracy to supply cannabis, being concerned in the supply of cannabis, and possession of criminal property – money – when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has a previous conviction for possession of cannabis with intent to supply from 2016. At the time of the offending he was subject to two community orders and to a suspended sentence for a public order matter imposed by magistrates in Llanelli.
Liam Bartlett, aged 30, of Pottery Street, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply, conspiracy to supply cannabis, and possession of criminal property when he appeared alongside the co-defendants. Liam Diaz, aged 31, of Harlech Crescent, Cardiff, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent, being concerned in the supply of cannabis, production of cannabis, and possession of cocaine with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock. The plea to the cocaine charge was on the basis that he was acting as a “custodian” of the package for others for one day. Christopher Giddy, aged 37, of Addison Crescent, Cardiff, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply and to being concerned in the supply of cannabis. He was subject to a community order for drink-driving at the time of the offending.
James Hartson, for Richards, said the defendant was embarrassed about the “bragaddocious” and childish response he had given to police on arrest. He said in conference his client had referred to himself as “stupid” and he said as a result of the defendant’s action he was missing precious time with his 12-month-old baby, time he would “never get back”. The barrister said he understood the defendant’s previous conviction for cannabis dealing involved three £20 bags of the drug.
Andrew Evans, for Diaz, said his client accepted the court would deal with him in one way and one way only. He said the defendant had no previous convictions and said a letter before the court about his significant remorse regarding the impact his offending was having on his family and on the family-run business.
Alex Scott, for Bartlett, said his client was entirely realistic about the kind of sentence the court was going to impose. He said Bartlett had always been a hard working man but had to give up his last job as an insurance broker in order to act as a carer for a relative with Parkinson’s and dementia.
Gerard Hillmam, for Giddy, said his client dealt cannabis to a small number of friends in order to fund his own long-standing use of the drug. He said the defendant had four children ranging from four weeks to 18 years of age along with a step-son, and he said the defendant would welcome any help that was offered from probation to “address the “profound difficulties in his mental health”.
Judge Huw Rees told the defendants he was not going to give them a lecture on the wrongness of drug dealing. With discounts for their guilty pleas Richards was sentenced to 53 months in prison, Diaz to four-and-a-half years in prison, and Bartlett to 22 months in prison. The defendants will serve up to half those sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Giddy was sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for 18 months and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course, a mental health treatment requirement, and a drug rehabilitation programme.
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“}]] One of the men arrested goaded police claiming he was making more money than they were and that it had taken them five years to catch him Read More
