An experienced drug dealer was helped to flood a city with cocaine and heroin by a gang who drove him between London and south Wales and facilitated and carried out deals. Davanual Linton ran a county lines number known as the Max Line, using five different phones to do so and making over £70,000 in the space of three months.
He was aided by a four-strong group who between them provided him with transport and accommodation, while also setting up and carrying out deals on the streets of Swansea during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Linton, 28, of London, was arrested on two occasions, having been caught stuffing huge amounts of cash down the side of a car seat before later telling police he was visiting his grandmother when he was apprehended leaving an address in the city. The rest of the gang were also caught, with one member pretending he was going for a run when officers caught him approaching a potential drug deal.
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Those also involved in the plot - Sophie Colfer, 33, Stuart Evans, 42, Peter Teifion Jones, 59, and Cadonius Lowe, 24 - appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Tuesday, May 9 for sentencing, having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Linton himself is due to be sentenced at a later date.
The court heard that the Max Line gang aimed to infiltrate Swansea and the surrounding area with cocaine and heroin, operating over a 98 day period between February 1 and May 14 2020. The phone number linked to the drugs line was operated by Linton, who despite his relatively young age, was described as a "seasoned player" in the drugs game.
Analysis of the phone number by investigating officers found that it had made the equivalent of 86 calls per day over its active period. Ashanti-Jade Walton, prosecuting, told the court that based on a police estimate that it would take, on average, three calls to set up and complete a deal, an estimated 29 transactions were taking place each day, solely based on calls.
There were also 760 outgoing texts from the number over the 98 day period, working out at eight messages a day. With the average value of a street deal estimated to be £20, the Max Line was making an estimated £740 per day based on texts and calls combined. Over 98 days, this meant that the estimated total made by the number was £72,520.
The court heard how at around 11am on May 13, 2020, plain clothed officers in Swansea city centre saw Jones driving a Jaguar vehicle with Linton in the front passenger seat. After police began to follow the car, Linton opened the passenger door and ran away, before later being caught exiting an address with two mobile phones, one of which was personal and the other was linked to the Max Lines number. Despite the phone containing multiple messages pertaining to the supply of drugs, he told arresting officers that he was visiting his grandmother.
This followed an earlier arrest on February 21, when officers saw him exiting a taxi near St Helens Avenue in Swansea, before entering a house and re-emerging a short time later and attempting to get back into the taxi. When he was stopped by police, he was found with three separate amounts of cash totalling over £1,000, some of which he had attempted to stuff down the side of the car seats.
Detailing the events of May 13 further, Ms Walton told the court that after Linton had escaped on foot, Jones, a taxi driver with Yellow Cabs, drove away before being detained, telling police who mentioned drug offences: "I have no idea what you're talking about".
Jones, of Bond Street, Sandfields, had driven Linton between London and Swansea on two occasions earlier that month, travelling to Bromley and back on May 1 and 2, with investigating officers discovering that phones linked to the Max Line number and Linton's personal number were both in his vehicle at the time. The pair also made the journey there and back on May 10.
Following his arrest, the 59-year-old told officers that while he had taken his partner to collect drugs on previous occasions, he had not been in London recently. However, he later admitted that he had been in London and driven Linton there, having been paid £150 for making the journeys but claiming that he was unaware what they were for.
Meanwhile, Lowe, of no fixed abode, was described to the court as a "drugs runner", who made journeys between Birmingham and Swansea. He was arrested after being caught by plain clothed officers approaching a potential drug sale, as he was caught walking towards a group of people in Penlan Crescent in the Uplands area of the city.
Noticing that he was being watched, Lowe pretended to stretch his legs as if he was going for a run, but he was then stopped and searched by police and found with two mobile phones and a small amount of cash. During his arrest, he reached into his boxer shorts and pulled out a package containing 44 wraps of crack cocaine and 22 wraps of heroin and attempted to swallow them, with police detaining him. The wraps, all of high purity, had a combined street value of around £1240.
Ms Walton added that between May 4 and May 11, Lowe had been contacted more than 115 times by the two phone numbers operated by Linton.
The remaining two members of the gang, Colfer and Evans, were described to the court as "facilitators", with the former setting up drug deals and the latter offering accommodation to Linton and driving from Birmingham to Swansea with Lowe. A search of an address in Pier Street, occupied at the time by Evans, in May 2020 revealed items including two phones, as well as bank card belonging to Linton.
Evans, a qualified electrician now of Maritime Quarter, Swansea, was found in the living room of his former property by police and arrested, later telling them that he was a Class A drug user who had received 'freebies' and money from Linton for allowing him to stay at the house. It was also discovered that he had the Max Line phone number saved in his phone under 'Maxine'.
Colfer, of Bond Street, Sandfields, who is in a relationship with Jones, was also detained at the address in Pier Street and arrested. She told police she was a user of Class A drugs but denied knowing Linton.
The court also heard that Lowe had five convictions for nine offences, including possesion and intent to supply Class A drugs and possession of a bladed article, and in 2020, had been sentenced to five years in a young offenders institution. Colfer, meanwhile, has 11 convictions for 19 offences, including conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, while Jones has two convictions for non-related offences and Evans has no previous convictions at all.
In mitigation, Colfer was described as having an "engrained" heroin addiction having, by her own admission, left home "far too early" at age of 16 and lived in temporary accomodation in Swansea, where she was introduced to heroin. She has now "realised she must make changes" and has vowed to put her drug misuse behind her. Similarly, Lowe, who was said to have made "significant strides in his rehabilitation" while in custody, was also described as being "determined to leave this life behind him".
Sentencing the four gang members, Judge Huw Rees described their offending as "a classic case". He told them: "Each of you played a roleole in this conspiracy. You all played a different part at different times with each of you having instrinsic involvements. You aimed to supply addictive drugs which can not only ruin individuals' lives but also have a destabilising effect on communities, causing social discohesion, illness and even death."
Colfer was sentenced to 4 years, 8 months imprisonment for her involvement in the conspiracy. Judge Rees also sentenced to Lowe to 12 months imprisonment, while Jones and Evans both received sentences of two years imprisonment.
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