Gang members jailed in drug op

Three more men have been sentenced for their part in a large-scale drugs conspiracy which previously saw 28 other gang members sentenced to a total of 220 years in prison.

James Melhuish, aged 27 and from Plymouth, was sentenced to three years and two months in prison on Thursday 19 November. Tony McCann, aged 26 and from Liverpool, was sentenced to six years in prison on Friday 11 December.

Melhuish entered a guilty plea for conspiring to supply Class A drugs at a pre-trial hearing at Liverpool Crown Court in October 2020. McCann, who was extradited to the UK from Spain in August 2020, also entered a guilty plea for conspiring to supply Class A drugs in September 2020.

A third gang member, Jack Ball aged 27 and from Plymouth, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court in January 2020 to seven years and eight months after entering a guilty plea to conspiring to supply Class A drugs. Ball’s role was as the principal organiser of the Plymouth OCG. He was arrested at Heathrow airport with a one-way ticket to Bangkok.

Melhuish, a close of associate of Jack Ball, had been a trusted member of the Plymouth Organised Crime Group [OCG], whose role was that of a drug courier who regularly travelled to Mexico, Thailand and the US with Ball.

McCann, a trusted member of the Liverpool OCG, was instrumental in the arrangement of the supply of cocaine. Following the arrests of other gang members, McCann fled to Spain in November 2018 only to return following his arrest under the terms of a European Arrest Warrant and extradited back to the UK.

The pair joined 28 other offenders who were brought to justice at Liverpool Crown Court on 19 and 20 December 2019 following a two-year joint investigation by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) and Devon and Cornwall Police into the drug-dealing network.

Link to previous press release.

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