Dudley drugs ring with estimated £1.5m turnover jailed for combined 48 YEARS

The group conspired to deal huge amounts of heroin and cocaine across the Black Country between October 2015 and April this year.

It was initially based at a flat in Chapel Street, Lye, where drugs were weighed and packaged. Members had their own nicknames, roles, fixed shift patterns, pool cars and claimed expenses.

A police expert who analysed ledgers seized from the headquarters described them as "the most meticulous and detailed records of drug dealing on this scale" they had ever seen.

It was from those documents the expert estimated the group's turnover would have been around £1.5m over the 18 months it was active.

The ringleader, Lea Brown, aged 32, of Tanfield Avenue, Blowers Green, Dudley, was jailed for 13 years having being convicted after trial of conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine. He was given a further three years for unrelated drugs offences and two counts of dangerous driving.

His right-hand-man, Jason Isaarq, 26, of Robin Hood Road, Brierley Hill, was sentenced to eight years and six months having pleaded guilty to the two conspiracy charges on the first day of trial.

Street dealers Anthony Smith, 23, of Heath Road, Netherton; and Timothy Pascall, 22, of Ashfield Crescent, Dudley, were jailed for seven years and eight months, and seven years and three months respectively. Smith pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges two day into the trial while Pascall admitted the offences on its first day.

Fellow dealer Hammas Naeem, 23, of Valley Road, Lye; was jailed for four years having only been convicted in relation to cocaine.

And Ian Martin, 40, of Hillside Avenue, Quarry Bank, was jailed for three years and ten months having been responsible for dividing the drugs into deal-sized amounts and for keeping the group's records. He admitted both conspiracy charges on the basis he was involved only up to May 2016.

Prosecutor Kevin Barry, said: "The operation was focused on Lye and Dudley although they did go beyond that across the Black Country.

"These were dealings on a significant scale geared towards large profits. This was the equivalent of 100,000 deals with a street value of £1m per year."

The operation was first interrupted by police when officers raided its Chapel Street 'trap house' on November 24, 2015.

Officers found 171 wraps of crack cocaine, worth £1,700, and 99 wraps of heroin, worth £990, as well as cash and digital scales.

Crucially they recovered the ledgers which gave a detailed account of the ring's transactions.

Mr Barry, added: "The ledgers contained the daily records of the drugs in bulk coming into the group.

"They recorded what happened next, their division into deals, and then the parcelling out of quantities, usually an eighth at a time, to the dealers including Pascall and Smith.

"They also recorded the cash coming back in and an accounting exercise was carried out whereby expenses like rent, wages and overheads like food and petrol for those on duty were deducted before the profits were then noted."

In mitigation, the defendants' barristers questioned the £1.5m turnover figure given by the prosecution.

But Judge Nicholas Cartwright, said: "I can't ignore the fact they were entirely undeterred by the raid in November 2015 and conspirators were caught again just two months later with Class A drugs."