Jailed drug dealers are ordered to pay £600K

Robert Price, 56, was sentenced to eight years in prison in December last year after admitting conspiracy to supply cannabis and being concerned in the supply of amphetamines.

Price, of Hollyshaw Terrace, Whitkirk, Leeds, was described as the “lynchpin” in an operation to store and distribute drugs, after police recovered over 3.2 tons of cannabis worth millions of pounds.

Leeds Crown Court heard Price lived a lavish lifestyle owning several properties and luxury cars and had £100,000 in cash stored under floorboards at his home.

Yesterday Judge Kerry Macgill made a confiscation order for £653,767 after being told that was Price’s benefit from crime and his realisable assets.

He has been given six months to pay or face four years in prison in default.

A second man involved in the drugs operation, Scott Weaver, 31, also of Hollyshaw Terrace, was jailed for five years three months, for conspiracy to supply amphetamines, being concerned in the supply of cannabis, and possession of a prohibited weapon, a taser gun, was also made the subject of a confiscation order.

His benefit from crime was assessed at £113,495 with realisable assets of £4,725. He was given 28 days to pay the £4,725 or face two months in jail in default.

The operation was smashed after police stopped some dealers and then raided a lock-up in Wrenthorpe Road, Wakefield, and found one of the largest cannabis stores ever found in the UK.