Three face jail for drug-cutting deals worth billions of pounds

Ringleader Jamie Dale organised a huge industrial-scale supply chain which helped thousands of dealers across the UK get “cutting agents” to bulk up the drugs for onward sale to the users.

Between September 2005 and July 2008, he imported and supplied almost 36 tonnes of chemicals such as benzocaine, lidocaine and procaine regularly used in the drug trade to cut cocaine, heroin and amphetamine.

If the chemicals were mixed at a ratio of one-to-one, a dilution typical at the top of the supply chain, the street value involved would be more than £3.5bn, the jury heard at Leeds Crown Court during a two-month trial.

The convictions followed an extensive operation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency during which officers identified 21 seizures where chemicals supplied by Dale’s organisation were found spanning the UK from Bristol to South Yorkshire and Bournemouth to Glasgow.

Paul Mitchell, prosecuting, told the jury there was no evidence of any of the chemicals imported by Dale ever being put to legitimate use.

“They did not particularly care which particularly drug was diluted with the chemicals they supplied, their only interest was in continuing to make money,” he said.

Dale, 32, of Claymere Avenue, Barford, Rochdale, John Cawley, 31, of Edgbaston Crescent, Birmingham, and Barry Hartley, 53, of Arkwright Street, Burnley, were each unanimously found guilty on three charges of conspiring to supply drugs namely heroin, cocaine and amphetamine but found not guilty of conspiring to supply ecstasy. They will be sentenced tomorrow.

John Wright, who led the four-year police operation into their activities, said: “These are convictions for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs though the men were dealing in cutting agents. As far as SOCA is concerned, knowingly selling such chemicals to drug dealers makes you as guilty as the dealers themselves.

“The scale of their operation was remarkable. It’s fair to say that if someone has snorted cocaine since 2008 they have snorted some of Dale’s product.

“The trade in cutting agents is a major enabler of criminal activity, generating huge profits for drug dealers and making Class A drugs cheaper and more available at street level.”

The jury heard chemicals purchased by the gang were linked to seizures in both Sheffield and Rotherham when houses associated with a man called Shoukat Yaqoob were searched. He is now serving an 11-year sentence for drugs offences.

Mr Mitchell said in that case three tubs of chemicals found to contain caffein and paracetamol were seized from one property in Earl Marshall Road, Sheffield, on July 17, 2007, and one of the tubs was identified as supplied earlier to Dale’s gang.

The gang regularly used a dummy front company to purchase chemicals from unwitting companies for supposedly legitimate purposes.

As the criminal business expanded they imported shipments from India and China when British businesses were unable to meet demand.

The trio were caught after an undercover operation by officers who marked stocks of some of the chemicals they bought.

Dale was described as a “Jack the Lad” character who led a champagne lifestyle. According to tax records, his last declared income was about £15,000 in 2003-4. But when he was arrested large sums of cash were found in the safe at his home, as well as a £15,000 watch and other jewellery.

Cawley acted as “front” for transactions, including setting up false identities. There was no record of his having paid tax and he claimed to make £52,000-a-year as a car valet.

Hartley was a long-established drug dealer and keen amateur chemist and was involved in the delivery and onward supply side of the organisation.