As police celebrate tackling Merseyside based drug rings a new case almost immediately emerges in Cumbria.
Barrow-in-Furness has been a regular and lucrative target for big city crime syndicates peddling heroin, crack-cocaine and other drugs while their leaders sit back and watch the profits roll in from afar. Yesterday the ECHO reported the case of Yacine Djalti, who at just 20 was described as the "leader" of an organised crime group directing men decades older than him.
Whether and to what extent Djalti, of no fixed address but with links to Woolton and Toxteth, answered to senior criminals is unclear. However phone evidence revealed he directed local dealers in Barrow from Liverpool, and even sent underage scouse teenagers to the town to work for him on the so-called 'Mo' drugs line.
READ MORE: Death, addiction and hope on the frontline of the Liverpool heroin trade
Raids by Cumbria Police at two addresses across Barrow in August last year saw the seizure of 179 wraps of heroin, 80 wraps of crack-cocaine and around £4,000 in cash. The raids also included the arrests of local men Ben Heavyside, 31; Derek Duncan, 50, and Marc Woods, 44.
Also arrested were Liverpool men Gary Crompton, 59, and Fred Williams 21, as well as a juvenile who could not be identified.
Cumbria detectives enlisted the help of Merseyside Police, which struck in Whitney Road, Woolton, on August 17, where Djalti was arrested after a foot-chase in which he tried to discard mobile phones, cash and a knife. The phones were examined and revealed him to be the director of the 'Mo' line in Barrow.
He was jailed for nine years and nine months for conspiracy to supply heroin, conspiracy to supply crack cocaine, criminal damage to property, possessing a knife blade in a public place and racially aggravated public order.
Barrow has had long-standing problems with addiction and deprivation, and provides a fertile market for those peddling Class A drugs. In 2020, the town clocked up a record numbers of deaths related to drug misuse.
Djalti is the latest example of a city gangster profiting from such misery. But he is far from the first.
In September last year, the ECHO reported on the jailing of 32-year-old Christopher Williams, of Douglas Road, Old Swan, for heading a county lines drugs ring operating in Barrow.
In stark contrast to the misery inflicted on vulnerable addicts, social media pictures showed Williams and his 25-year-old girlfriend, Lauren Callister, sunning themselves on holiday in Thailand, alongside fellow heroin trafficker Liam Benfield, 30, of Blackhorse Lane in Stoneycroft.
While Williams, Callister and Benfield luxuriated in South East Asia, their operation flooded Barrow with drugs over the course of a year when 17 people died of drug misuse related deaths - a huge number for a town of around 67,000 people.
Williams and Benfield were both jailed alongside Paul McGovern, 40, of September Road in Anfield; Matthew Renshall, 28, Woolacombe Avenue, St Helens and Kyle Annett, 26, of Croxteth Hall Lane.
The profits of both Williams' gang and those behind the Jimmy line rely on mobile phones stacked with the numbers of customers on the streets of Barrow. The phones are used to distribute advertisements for Class A drugs and co-ordinate sales, often with those at the top of the tree directing drop-offs from miles away.
That was the case when detectives dismantled the 'Hippo' line in August 2020. Officers from Cumbria police raided a flat in Steamer Street, Barrow Island, where they found a 15-year-old boy from Liverpool alongside 22-year-old Garston man Reece Roach and locals Helen Ungor and Michael Claughton.
Inside the flat was almost 200 street deals of heroin and crack cocaine, with a street value of nearly £3,000, and £1,000 cash. Shockingly, the investigation would reveal that the phone line controlling the operation in the hands of a 17-year-old boy in Walton.
The youth had sent the young teenager to Barrow to oversee the dealing of drugs, and was later locked up for offences under the Modern Slavery Act and drugs supply.
Speaking after the sentence of Djalti at Newcastle Crown Court, A spokesperson from the south area Community Serious and Organised Crime Unit said: “Djalti’s drug operation exploited the most vulnerable in society, for profit.
“He and other members of the crime group used a child to traffic drugs into the county, and he made money from Cumbrians struggling with addiction. The investigation against this criminal group was lengthy and complex, and the strength of the evidence against Djalti – which ultimately led him to plead guilty to the full facts of the prosecution case rather than elect for trial – was achieved in partnership with Merseyside Police.
“I hope these sentences send a strong message to those selling Class A drugs into south Cumbria: we will pursue you, arrest you, and prosecute you no matter where you live. The information we receive from you on drugs supply is crucial to our efforts to tackling this issue. If you witness drug supply activity or have information, please report this to us. You can do this quickly and easily online here.
"Or complete our online intelligence reporting form to share information that you feel could help us investigate a suspected crime or perhaps safeguard someone who may need our help - Tell Us Something - Cumbria Constabulary. Alternatively, you can contact independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111."
