Teen-led armed drugs gang put behind bars
Stanley Woods employed children as young as 15 in his drug sales empire
Last updated 26th Jan 2023
An armed drugs gang led by a teenage boy from Southampton has been jailed for a total of 33 years and eight months.
Stanley Woods from Shirley was just 17 when he began importing cannabis in the post from around the world.
The drugs were sold on the streets of Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Woods, 21, and 17 other members were sentenced between June 2022 and 26 January at Southampton Crown Court.
Officers seized more than 58 kilos of cannabis worth more than £500,000, over £38,000 in cash and more than £50,000 in cryptocurrency.
Five antique firearms, numerous knives, crossbows, machetes and other weapons were also seized.
Between April 2019 and November 2020, Woods was importing the drugs from Europe and having them sent to his address and those of his associates.
The drugs, primarily cannabis but also MDMA and cocaine, were distributed using various runners and the proceeds were then converted into Bitcoin to conceal the proceeds.
On 28 October 2019, officers carried out a search warrant at Woods’ home address in Imperial Avenue, Southampton and seized his mobile phone.
His message history revealed his associates and the scale of the drugs supply network.
Two members of the gang were arrested following a police chase in Southampton on 27 June 2020.
With the vast majority pleading guilty to their crimes, Woods and his 16 associates were sentenced between June 2022 and 26 January.
Changing the law on antique firearms
During the investigation, officers discovered that Woods was exploiting a legal loophole to purchase antique guns that did not require a licence to own.
He was then modifying them into working firearms with parts he legally purchased online.
Woods supplied firearms and drugs to his ‘employees’ and enticed children as young as 15 into his business who he armed with guns to protect the drugs sales empire he had built.
After officers saw the loophole, it led to the government changing the law.
From September 2021, it became illegal for people to own a variety of antique guns without a licence.
When passing sentence, His Honour Judge Rowland said Woods was ‘fairly and squarely at the top’ of the operation.
DC Swift from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said: “Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our officers, we have cut out an entire organised crime gang which was the root cause of so much drug related harm and serious violence in Southampton.
"Woods was once the kingpin of the operation and now he and his associates are behind bars, the city is a much safer place and their gang has been dismantled.
"This investigation has not only recovered a large amount of cannabis, it also recovered the monetary gains that Woods tried to hide in crypto currency.
"However, this case is about so much more than cannabis and cash – it is about tackling the violence and exploitation of vulnerable people that goes hand in hand with organised crime.
"This investigation has identified and removed children and vulnerable people from the drugs trade.
"We also exposed a loophole in the sale of firearms which we believe coincided with a spike in serious incidents involving guns in Southampton in 2020.
"The change in the law means that never again will criminal organisations be able to poison our communities with lethal weapons in the same way."