Drugs gang from West Midlands jailed for over 40 years
It follows a major operation by police in the West Midlands and Scotland.
Six people have been jailed for running a drugs line from West Midlands into Scotland.
Rikardo Reid, 34, Joshua Nelson, 35, Mickel Gardner, 40, Ian Massie, 41, Himesh Suri, 28, and Cree Dacres, 29, were all sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday (8 May).
Operation Tiger was a West Midlands Police investigation in partnership with Police Scotland into the supply of Class A drugs - heroin and crack cocaine - from the West Midlands region into Aberdeen, Scotland.
From 2017 through to 2021, the Flash drugs line was running, providing drugs to users in Aberdeen, who would call a dedicated line, which was operated in the West Midlands area, and they would then be provided with the drugs through street dealers in Aberdeen.
The drug dealing enterprise was headed by Reid, a Birmingham rapper known as Stardom, with Nelson - also a rapper - known as Pepc, second in command in the drugs line.
Gardner would store the drugs before they were then moved on to Aberdeen, where they were transported by Dacres and Suri.
Massie would then assist in the sale of the heroin and crack in the Aberdeen area.
During the investigation, several seizures were made including heroin, crack cocaine and large amounts of cash.
The Flash drug line was recovered from Reid's home in 2020.
Reid, Nelson, Gardner, Dacres and Suri pleaded guilty, and Ian Massie was found guilty after a three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
The group of six were jailed today and received the following sentences:
- Ricardo Reid - pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply class A drugs, converting and transferring criminal property. Reid was jailed for 12 years and nine months.
- Joshua Nelson - pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply class A drugs. Nelson was jailed for 12 years and 10 months.
- Mickel Gardner - pleaded guilty to conspiring to class A drugs. Gardner was jailed for five years.
- Cree Dacres - pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply class A drugs. Dacres was jailed for three years and five months.
- Himesh Suri - pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply class A drugs, converting and transferring criminal property. Suri was jailed for nine months.
- Ian Messie - pleaded not guilty to supplying class A drugs and converting and transferring criminal property but was found guilty following a three-week trial. Massie was jailed for 11 years and six months.
A further trial is due to take place later this year for nine other people linked to the drugs line.