Caught on camera: Drug gang involved in 24/7 crack dens is smashed
This is the moment a gang involved in '24 hour, 365 days-of-the-year' crack dens was smashed as part of the biggest police operation of its kind in Wolverhampton's history.
Stephen Brown, Beresford Smith, David James, Simon Samuels, Dane Stephens, Stuart Kyprianou and Mohammed Arif turned the properties in Crowther Street, Park Village, Wolverhampton into a 'one stop shop for drugs'.
The men were rumbled as part of Operation No Deal, an 18 month undercover investigation into drug dealing in Wolverhampton, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
The Express & Star was given exclusive access to the raid on Arif's house in Crowther street last October, and captured it on camera.
Miss Jennifer Josephs, prosecuting, told the court how an officer using the name of 'Scott' met with Kyrprianou outside a pharmacy in Heath Town. She said: "Scott met Mr Kyprianou and asked if he could buy crack for £5. The defendant told him he didn't have any but knew somewhere it was available for £10. Scott was told that it was available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. He was taken to Crowther Street where Mr Kyprianou ordered the drugs and they were then handed to Scott."
Miss Josephs explained how the house, in which Smith was a tenant, was used as a den to deal class A drugs.
Smith's property was shut down by police but the sale of drugs, which became to be known as 'the Crowther Street Conspiracy', continued. On March 19, Samuels told an undercover officer that the sale of drugs was now being done out of another house on Crowther Street. Brown, 36, of no fixed address was handed a six-year jail term. He admitted to conspiracy to supply class A crack cocaine and heroin.
His barrister, Mr Paul Andrews, asked Judge Patrick Thomas QC to take into account Brown's guilty plea when sentencing. Smith, 62, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to 12 months.
Samuels, 47, of Coventry Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, was convicted after a trial of conspiracy to supply class A crack cocaine and heroin.
Judge Thomas QC jailed him for four and a half years.
James, 48, of no fixed address, admitted conspiracy to supply class A crack cocaine and heroin he was given three years in jail.
Dane Stephens, 52, of Alexandra Road, Palfrey, Walsall, admitted conspiracy to supply class A crack cocaine and heroin and was jailed for two and a half years.
Kyprianous, 37, of no fixed address, had a lesser role in the drug line and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A crack cocaine. He was given two years in jail.
Arif, 65, of Crowther Street, Wolverhampton, also admitted conspiracy to supply class A crack cocaine. He was jailed for two years.
Operation No Deal saw a series of co-ordinated raids on properties across Wolverhampton. Raids took place in Heath Town, Park Village, Ettingshall and Willenhall and targeted suspected drug dealers and gang members.
So far more than 25 drug dealers have been taken off the streets.
See also:
No hiding place for Wolverhampton drug dealers as 23 jailed in crackdown
Gang busters: 280 police officers in Wolverhampton's biggest drugs raid
Gangs caught selling drugs in Wolverhampton No Deal crackdown start jail terms
