"Commercial scale" drugs gang jailed for total of 75 years
The group was caught when police intercepted encrypted messages
Last updated 26th Nov 2022
Seven men from Bournemouth and Poole who bought and sold drugs worth an estimated ÂŁ49m have been jailed for a total of 75 years.
Dorset Police said the gang, led by two brothers, was dealing cocaine on a commercial scale.
The group got hold of a gun to protect their enterprise after one of their drug runners was robbed.
Police smashed the operation when they managed to intercept encrypted messages being sent by the criminals.
Jake Stephen Bastable, 36, of St Anthony’s Road, Bournemouth, and Joe Tommy Bastable, 34 of Mitchell Road, Poole, were both sentenced to 17 years in prison for offences of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and purchasing a firearm without authority.
Gavin Lee Richard Newman, 44, of Ripon Road, Bournemouth, was sentenced to 12 years and four months in jail for offences of conspiracy to supply class A drugs, possessing a firearm without a certificate and possessing ammunition without a certificate.
Dennis Harry Hough, 35, of Beaufort Road, Bournemouth, was jailed for five years and ten months, Zacharia Kaissi-Kavanagh, 25 and of Southbourne Overcliff Drive, Bournemouth, was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison and Aaron Shane Newman, 41, of Florence Road, Bournemouth, was jailed for four years and ten months, all for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Nicky Robert Charles Gent, 36, of Berrans Avenue, Bournemouth, was sentenced to eight years in prison for offences of being concerned in an arrangement which facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by another and participation in the criminal activities of an organised crime group.
The investigation into the organised crime group began in March 2020 and exposed how the gang used an encryption method called Encrochat to run their operation, which was directed by the brothers Joe and Jake Bastable and involved them organising the buying and selling of large amounts of cocaine.
Over the following weeks members of the group exchanged a series of messages relating to the supply of drugs, as well as discussing the sourcing of a firearm after one of their drugs runners was robbed.
With the Bastable brothers directing the OCG, Gavin Newman was involved in organising drivers to collect and deliver the drugs and also collected the firearm on their behalf, before storing it at an address in Bournemouth.
He later instructed his brother Aaron Newman to collect drugs from the address and both Aaron Newman and Hough were involved in the transportation of cocaine in kilogram blocks, as well as the movement of money.
Gent was involved in the storing and counting of cash on behalf of the OCG while Kaissi-Kavanagh operated his own drug dealing line after buying in wholesale amounts from the Bastables.
Following a detailed investigation into this drug supply network, officers carried out a series of arrests and searches from 2 June 2020.
The drugs seized during the police operation had an estimated street value of around £800,000. However, expert analysis of the OCG’s communications indicated they were believed to be supplying nearly 900 kilograms of class A and class B drugs per year, with an estimated street value of around £49 million.
Detective Chief Inspector Jamie Halford, of Dorset Police, said: “This was an extensive operation to investigate and ultimately disrupt the activities of a gang dealing class A drugs on a commercial scale.
"These men also showed the dangerous levels they were prepared to go to in order to protect their enterprise by securing a potentially lethal firearm, which has now been taken off the streets."