13th person pleads guilty to involvement in a £53 million county lines cocaine supply
A 13th person has pleaded guilty to involvement in a £53 million county lines cocaine supply plot.
Gary Gittins, 42, from Greater Manchester appeared at Carlisle Crown Court where he admitted to conspiring with other people to supply cocaine between 1 March 2022 and late May 2023.
His arrest came as part of a crackdown by Cumbria Police and the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWEOCU) into the multi-kilo importation and distribution of Class A drugs throughout the UK.
Earlier this year nine other members of organised crime groups in Cheshire, Cumbria, and Manchester have been jailed for more than 100 years for drug supply offences.
Operation Matrix began in March 2022 when Cumbria Police asked NWEOCU detectives for help in bringing down a local drug dealer Reece Barnes, who was responsible for selling cocaine in the Windermere area.
CCTV showed that Reece Barnes stored drugs in shoe boxes at a lockup near his home address in the Windermere area (Credit: North West Regional Organised Crime Unit)
Police rounded up suspects after 1kg of cocaine was seized last February in Bowness-on-Windermere.
Four others including Gittins and former Polish Love Island contestant Magdalena Sadlo, 29, are now due to be sentenced by Judge Barker later this year.
The court has heard how vast quantities of cocaine were imported into the UK, warehoused and then distributed to towns and cities nationwide by an Organised Crime Group (OCG).
Police made arrests and seized phones which revealed the scale of a criminal conspiracy which prosecutor Tim Evans described as “truly massive” and “Amazon-style”.
Footage from Operation Matrix (Credit: North West Regional Organised Crime Unit)
Gittins played the part of a warehouseman while Sadlo was a courier.
During today’s hearing, Gittins also admitted a second charge of possessing class B drug cannabis with intent to supply, on 11th May 2023.
He has been remanded in custody ahead of the sentencing hearing, which has a provisional listing date of 11th October.
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