Bristol cocaine gang jailed for 12 years

Three men involved in a cocaine supply operation in Fishponds have been jailed for a total of 12 years and three months.

Police found cocaine with a street value of more than £16,000 stashed under a patio and in an oven when they raided a home in Alcove Road – along with a huge TV and champagne.

Asif Malik, 37, of Alcove Road, and his lodger Stephen Todd, 18, pleaded guilty to possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply.

Their acquaintance Jasbir Singh, 43, of Selbridge House, Filton Road, Hambrook, was convicted of the charge after a trial last month.

Judge Julian Lambert jailed Malik for three years and nine months, and sent Todd to a young offenders' institution for 18 months.

He told the men: "The court considers Class A drugs as a grave threat to the civilised life of the state.

"They destroy the lives of those who take them, and they ruin the lives of the people from whom they rob, steal and burgle."

The judge commended Detective Constable Daniel Wilson for his well- organised work in a "difficult, intricate and involved" police investigation.

Earlier the recorder Mr Paul Derbyshire jailed Singh to a seven-year prison term, telling him: "By your participation in this pernicious trade you have brought shame on your family. You enjoyed the profits and you knew the risks if you were caught."

Drugs and drugs paraphernalia involved in the case were forfeited and destroyed.

Simon Burns, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court it was 3.50am in October last year when armed police raided the house in Alcove Road.

He said a cocaine operation was found inside, with the three defendants as well as a fourth man living there, 42-year-old Kevin Lias, who has since been fined £300 after a jury convicted him of simply possessing cocaine.

Mr Burns said Malik, who had owned the property since 1992, was found in the front upstairs bedroom with £2,050 in £50 notes.

Todd, who was 17 at the time, was found with six mobile phones, an imitation gun and surgical gloves.

Mr Burns said: "There were also electronic scales, a mixer jug, heat sealer, gloves and bags.

"Dealer's lists which were the responsibility of Mr Singh connected him to the drugs enterprise.

"Drugs on the premises were clearly destined to be cut."

In all police recovered 407g of cocaine with a street value of £16,294, of which 63g was 100 per cent pure, Mr Burns said.

Drugs were recovered from underneath a patio slab outside the kitchen, as well as in an oven, and there was also 1.5 kilogrammes of cutting agent.

In the lounge there was a 60-inch TV set, champagne and golf clubs and Singh had two cars registered to him – an Audi A4 convertible and a Mercedes at his home with the personalised registration plate JAZ 26.

Ignatius Hughes, defending Malik, said his client had three children from two relationships and, after a "messy" divorce; he had become depressed, re-mortgaged his home and gone travelling.

The court heard he started a refrigeration business on his return.

But the business had fallen into financial difficulties and he became involved in the illicit operation.

Edward Burgess, defending Todd, said his client had been seduced into crime without realising where it would lead to.

David Martin, defending Singh, said his client was nothing more than a "worker" who had been addicted to cocaine himself and made great efforts to get off drugs.