Wigan cocaine gang jailed for more than 45 years
A Wigan gang have been jailed for more than 45 years, after they tried to flood the streets with cocaine.
A gang who conspired to flood the streets of Wigan with cocaine, have been jailed for more than 45 years.
Thomas Gore, Anthony Jenkinson, Martin Fish, Simon Perks and Christopher Thompson have been sentenced to a total of 46 years in prison.
At earlier hearings, Gore, Jenkinson and Fish pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce the Class A drug cocaine, while Perks and Thompson were found guilty of the same charge following trial.
The gang had been smuggling cocaine in from Colombia, hidden inside coffee granules to disguise the smell.
Gore and Jenkinson operated from an industrial unit in Ashton-in-Makerfield where cocaine was pressed. They were arrested in March 2014 after police monitored their activity at the premises.
In the lab, the men were using dangerous chemicals to filter the cocaine back out of the coffee again - to return the drug to its original state.
Mobile phone conversations showed Fish, Perks, Thompson and another accomplice, who travelled to Felixstowe Port in Suffolk, to remove the illegal cargo from a shipping container which had travelled from South America.
DCI Michael Fraser, in charge of Wigan’s Organised Crime Investigation Team, said: “This was a sophisticated operation carried out by criminals who had specialist knowledge of the chemical processes needed to produce high purity cocaine from what would have appeared to be coffee to most people.
“Their operation required well-established contacts in South America and a degree of inside knowledge when it came to the exact location of the particular shipping container containing the drugs.
“The Wigan area is undoubtedly a safer place now this group are no longer free to produce this Class A drug which is proven to cause such misery in communities and fund further crime.
“With these individuals off the streets, we have made a huge dent into the supply of drugs in this area and hopefully sent a powerful message to others involved in this illegal industry that they will be caught and dealt with robustly.”