Two Salford men have been jailed as part of a gang of drug dealers. The gang have been jailed for a total of 27 years after guns and drugs worth £830,000 were found in a safe and a freezer in a Darwen industrial unit.
Jay Thomas Carney, 24, from Salford, has been jailed for two years and six months for possession of a shotgun without a certificate, and 32-year-old Ryan O'Donnell, also from Salford, has been jailed for just under eight years for possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of a Class A drug, being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs and possession with intent to supply a Class B drug. The gang as a whole was jailed for 27 years and four months.
An investigation was launched into the gang by Lancashire Police after they seized two handguns with rounds of ammunition and a silencer and a pump action shotgun with shotgun shells when they raided the unit at Kay Street, Darwen, in October 2019. A locked safe box containing £480,000 of cocaine with an 80 per cent purity and a freezer containing £353,000 of amphetamine was also discovered.
Nobody was inside the property at the time of the raid but CCTV footage showed a Ben Snell and Damien Derbyshire entering and leaving the unit in the months prior to the warrant being executed. Mercedes Citan and Citroen Berlingo vans used to drive to and from the unit were both seized during the investigation.
Derbyshire and Snell were also linked to the drug supply conspiracy by paperwork and payments connected to the unit, as well as mobile phone evidence. O'Donnell was later arrested at an address in Corinthian Avenue, Manchester, after his DNA was recovered from the trigger/guard of the handgun. Cocaine, cannabis and a 'dealer debt list' were also found here. Both O'Donnell and Carney pleaded guilty in court.
Carney was arrested on the same day at an address in Fairy Lane, Manchester, after his DNA was also recovered from the trigger/guard of the shotgun. Derbyshire, 43, of Accrington, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs and was jailed for six years. Snell, 34, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a Class B drug, possessing prohibited firearms, possessing ammunition without a certificate and possessing shotgun without certificate. He was jailed for nine years.
DC Paul Hayes said: “This was a complex investigation which has resulted in members of an organised criminal group being given significant custodial sentences. They thought they could cleverly conceal their criminal activity but through good detective work and targeted policing we have managed to dismantle their web of illegal activity.
"Lancashire Police will not tolerate the illegal activities of organised criminal gangs on our streets. I hope the outcome of this case sends a strong message that East Lancashire is not a safe place to operate for those intending to deal drugs and arm themselves with deadly weapons. If you chose to do so, we will look for you, we will find you, and we will put you before the courts.”
DS Steve Munro, of East CID, added: “I would like to praise all the officers who have worked on this case, as well as our colleagues from the Crown Prosecution Service, for their professionalism and dedication in this case. Without that work this significant drugs haul would have been flooded onto the streets of Lancashire and three lethal weapons could have been used to inflict serious or fatal harm.
“I would encourage anybody who has information about illegal activity happening in their area to contact police via 101, confident that we will take the appropriate action.”
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