These drug gang members have been sent to jail in December for their involvement in flooding the streets with cocaine, cannabis and MDMA.
The criminals turned a blind eye to the harm illegal drugs can cause in our communities in order to make money. But now they are serving years behind bars for the role they played in major drug operations across the North East.
And one gang leader who has been sentenced to seven years in prison has also been ordered to back his ill-gotten drugs profits.
Here is a look at some of the North East drug gang members and leaders who have appeared before the courts in December 2022.
Samir Baghdad
The drug gang leader has been ordered to pay £300,000 after he was jailed for converting a County Durham office block into a massive cannabis farm.
Samir Baghdadi was handed a Confiscation Order of £304,028 as part of a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Leeds Crown Court on Monday, December 19. The court heard that Baghdadi had benefited from his crimes after an investigation by Durham Constabulary found around 400 cannabis plants during a raid on Ridgemount House, in Peterlee town centre, in 2020.
The 55-year-old had converted two-storeys of the landmark building for use as a drug farm. Police acted following reports from the public of double mattresses being moved into the vacant building and swooped to find Baghdadi with seven other accomplices on the premises.
A police drugs expert estimated that the plants had a current value of £5,000 with a potential earnings value of £147,000 to £252,000 if the farm was fully operational. The value of the equipment used was estimated at £59,000.
Baghdadi denied knowing of the men’s existence in the building but all eight were arrested at the scene and were charged with being concerned in the production of a Class B drug. Despite claiming large sums of cash going into his account at that time were from legitimate sales of tyres, investigators put it to the court that it was a result of Baghdadi’s illegal activity.
Now Baghdadi will be made to pay back his ill-gotten drugs profits. Baghdadi, of Hertfordshire, was found guilty following a trial and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Liam Pow, Scott Ridley,Christopher Phillips, and Tiffany Day
These drug gang members have been jailed for playing their part in flooding the streets of Newcastle with cocaine.
Liam Pow, 33, Scott Ridley, 32, Christopher Phillips, 30, and Tiffany Day, 30, were all part of a major class A drugs conspiracy that involved the transportation and selling of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine. Large quantities of the drug were delivered and collected during the conspiracy between March 11 and July 16 2020 before a police raid called a halt to the operation.
All four of the co-conspirators were arrested after being placed under surveillance by Northumbria Police and all appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on December 15 to be sentenced for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
The court heard that most of the defendants were arrested in the summer of 2020 and that the conspiracy involved "substantial quantities of cocaine and cash". Gavin Doig, prosecuting, said the gang was "involved in high-level distribution and adulterating cocaine to increase profits", with Pow being the prime mover in the operation, and Ridley acting as his trusted "lieutenant".
Mr Doig said there were two significant addresses used during the conspiracy, one at Walkerfield Court in Walker, where "drugs were tested and moved on", and nearby Wellbeck Road, where cash was stored on behalf of Pow and Ridley.
The court was told that Day was Ridley's partner at the time and they lived together at Walkerfield Court, which was the "hub" of the conspiracy. Mr Doig said that when the home was raided by police £166,000 and three kilos of cocaine was recovered. He said that police estimated Pow had been supplied with a total of 26kg of cocaine during the conspiracy, which he would buy wholesale before adulterating and distributing to suppliers.
Pow was jailed for 14 years and four months; Ridley was jailed for nine years and four months; Phillips was jailed for four years and six months, and Day was jailed for three years.
David Storey, Alexander Bales, and Jace Farrell
The three men have been jailed for more than 14 years in total for the role they played in a Newcastle cocaine drug conspiracy.
David Storey, 29, Alexander Bales, 25, and Jace Farrell, 26, were part of a major class A drugs conspiracy that involved the transportation and selling of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine.
Large quantities of the drug were delivered and collected during the conspiracy between March 11 and July 16 2020 following a surveillance operation by Northumbria Police. The three men appeared in Newcastle Crown Court on Friday, December 16 to be sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
The court heard the defendants were part of a bigger operation being run by Liam Pow, 33, and his first lieutenant Scott Ridley, 32, who have already been sentenced to 14 years and four months and nine years and four months in prison respectively.
The court heard three kilos of cocaine were found during a police raid on July 15, with 26 kilos of cocaine believed to have passed through the hands of the drug gang over a four month period during the first coronavirus lockdown.
Farrell, of Phoenix Place, in Newton Aycliffe, and Bales, of Ida Place, Newton Aycliffe, were acting as couriers and bringing the drugs to Newcastle from the Darlington, County Durham, and North Yorkshire areas and taking cash back down, the court was told.
The court heard Storey's role in the operation was providing a safe house for the cash and when the police raided his property on Welbeck Road, Walker, in July a bag containing £76,000 was found.
Storey was jailed for five years and one month, while Farrell and Bales were both jailed for four years and nine months.
Mark Shergold, Dennis Cairns and David Waterhouse
This county lines drugs gang which plotted to flood the streets with large volumes of high-purity cocaine has been jailed.
Mark Shergold played a leading role in the conspiracy to supply class A drugs, alongside Dennis Cairns and David Waterhouse.
The court heard that on one day, police recovered six kilos of cocaine, at 90-95% purity, worth £200,000 at wholesale values. An investigation into the trio’s shady dealings was launched back in October 2018 which saw detectives monitor their movements in and around Sunderland.
Officers watched courier Waterhouse drive his van to Ribble Road to meet Cairns where he handed him a bag containing four kilos of cocaine, which detectives later found and seized at his home on Rhodesia Road. Following the drop off, Waterhouse was then seen driving to Southwick Road where he met Shergold.
Later that day, officers arrested Cairns and intercepted Waterhouse on the A1 as he headed back to his home in Oldham. Shergold was later arrested at his home. All three men were brought into custody and had their homes searched.
Detectives uncovered a quantity of white powder from Cairns' Peugeot and the four kilos he was given by Waterhouse, which had been hidden under a quilt inside a wardrobe. They also recovered £16,000 in cash and two blocks of cocaine from Waterhouse’s van. When they searched Shergold’s home they found a quantity of tablets as well as receipts showing deposits of more than £12,000 cash.
Shergold, 45, of Cliffe Park, Sunderland, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and two counts of possessing criminal property after a two-week trial. He was convicted after a trial and on December 9 he was jailed for 15 years.
Cairns, 60, of Rhodesia Road, Sunderland, and Waterhouse, 70, of Kingston Avenue, Oldham, pleaded guilty to supplying a Class A drug. On December 9, Cairns was jailed for 63 months and Waterhouse was given 308 days, resulting in his immediate release given the time he has spent on remand.
Donovan Sibanda, Nelson Ndlovu, Adoniyas Michaels, Sandro Mendonca
These four street dealers have been jailed in December after they were caught selling drugs to partygoers in Newcastle.
The group was part of a network of eight dealers who were arrested after they were observed selling cannabis, MDMA and cocaine to revellers in the city centre between June and December 2018.
Officers from Northumbria Police worked across hotspot areas such as Moseley Street, the Quayside and Collingwood Street where they observed the men selling quantities of drugs to revellers and began compiling a detailed case against them.
In December 2018, officers began making arrests with the first to be taken into custody being dealers Jean Pierre Parracho, Joshua Kanda, and Laykan Aremu. Officers seized their devices and were able to piece together a series of telecoms evidence showing a clear pattern of offending and implicating others in the conspiracy.
Then associates Donovan Sibanda and Adoniyas Michaels were arrested with five others. Before long the men were charged and in May last year, they began appearing at Newcastle Crown Court.
Two of those implicated in the plot have denied their involvement and are due to stand trial in the New Year. However, the rest of the men were subsequently convicted and on December 9 the final four were jailed. They were:
- Donovan Sibanda, 25, of Westbourne Avenue, Newcastle, was jailed for three years and four months for three counts of supplying cocaine.
- Also appearing with him was Nelson Ndlovu, 27, of Raby Way, Newcastle, who was jailed for two years and nine months for three counts of supplying cocaine and possession with intent to supply.
- Adoniyas Michaels, 26, of Studdon Walk, Newcastle was jailed for three years and two months for two counts of supplying cocaine and one count of supplying MDMA.
- Sandro Mendonca, 26, of no fixed abode, was given a 21 months jail term suspended for 12 months for supplying cocaine.
Those sentenced previously are:
- Michael Ojeikere, 24, of Gainsborough Grove, Newcastle was jailed for two years in July for two counts of supplying cocaine.
- Laykan Farouk Aremu, 26, of Fourstones Close in Kenton, was jailed for four years and five months in October for four counts of supplying cocaine.
- Joshua Kanda, 28, of Grosvenor Road, Jesmond was issued with a community order for two months in May last year.
- Jean Pierre Parracho, 24, of Prendwick Court in Hebburn was given a 21 months jail term suspended for 18 months in July for two counts of being concerned in supplying cocaine.
- Three other men identified during the investigation were issued with cautions and fines for possession.
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