Men jailed for transporting £3m of cocaine to South West
The four men acted as drugs and money couriers to enable at least £3million worth of cocaine to be supplied to the region
Four men have been jailed for 37-and-a-half years for transporting drugs and money to the South West from London and the East Midlands.
Mehmet Sanci, 37, from Swindon, Pavel Purkin, 34, from Bognor Regis, Corneliu Preda, 37, from Saltford and Garfield Prehay, 36, from Wembley, have all been convicted for their role in a major country lines drug operation uncovered by police forces across the region.
Police say the four men acted as drugs and money couriers to enable at least £3million worth of cocaine to be supplied to the region, using mobile encryption service EncroChat.
Eight other members of the organised crime group have already been sentenced to a total of 87 years for their role in the operation. It means the group faces 124 years in prison in total.
DCI Adam Smith from the SWROCU said, “These four men were key to enabling the drugs conspiracy to operate, meaning huge amounts of class A drugs supplied on our streets and massive profits for them and the rest of the criminal group.
“This investigation has seen significant sentences totalling more than 120 years handed down, with many key players pleading guilty due to the strength of evidence we gathered against them.
“These were highly organised criminals causing massive harm in our communities, but the tireless work of our investigation team, working closely with colleagues in the CPS, secured their convictions and has ensured they’re brought to justice.”