A trio of men who brought 'high purity' cocaine to the streets have been handed more than a decade of jailtime between them.
Stephen Sumner, Nicholas Waine and Simon Shaw transported roughly £40,000 worth of class A drugs into Fleetwood, Lancashire, from Greater Manchester last autumn when they were arrested. The police investigation - named Operation Bergen - kept the criminals under surveillance.
Eventually, the three men were caught after their van was stopped on the M61 near Rivington. Cops recovered half a kilo of high purity cocaine and took out of circulation, LancsLive reports.
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On November 4 last year, Fleetwood man Stephen Sumner arranged for his courier Simon Shaw to travel to Manchester and collect drugs from supplier Nicholas Waine. Shaw drove his Mercedes Vito van to Carrington where he met Waine in a car park and the drugs were handed over.
Shaw then began the return journey to Lancashire but was stopped by police on the M61 near Rivington and arrested. The drugs which were recovered had an estimated wholesale value of £22k and a street value of nearly £40k.
Sumner, 37, of Poulton Road, Fleetwood and Waine, 36, of Norwood Avenue, Sale, Manchester pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Supply Cocaine. Shaw, 44, of Normoss Road, Blackpool admitted Possession with Intent to Supply Cocaine.
They were all jailed at Preston Crown Court this week. Sumner was sentenced to three years and eight months; Waine received a term of four years and four months and Shaw was jailed for two years and eight months.
Det Chief Insp Lee Wilson, of West Police, said: “We welcome these significant sentences which reflect the gravity of the offending and come as a result of some exceptional work by officers and staff to disrupt this criminal network and take drugs off our streets. We will continue to take the fight to criminals in order to protect our communities and make our streets safer.
“As always, we cannot achieve any of this without the support of our communities and I ask if you have any information regarding individuals who are involved in criminality please contact Lancashire Constabulary on 101 or independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."
