North East men sentenced for supplying £189,000 worth of drugs to crime gang

Two men have been jailed for supplying £189,000 worth of drugs to an organised crime group.

Gentjan Kaloti and William Hunter both pleaded guilty to drug offences and were sentenced at a hearing at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday 20 October.

Kaloti, 44, of Brettanby Road in Felling, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for conspiring to supply cannabis while Hunter, 52, of Westgate Road, Newcastle, was sentenced to eight years and one month for conspiring to supply class A drugs.

They were part of the same conspiracy that saw cocaine dealer David Borley jailed for 19 years earlier this month.

The men were initially arrested as part of a specialist operation by Northumbria Police which saw law enforcement infiltrate encrypted devices to uncover evidence of large-scale drug supply across the North East.

The investigation mapped a network of couriers including Hunter, who was found to have provided transport which delivered cocaine shipments and stored £20,000 of cash in his home.

It was also established that Kaloti had helped supply 45kg of cannabis.

Police recovered £169,000 in cash following searches of an address on Kitchener Street, Gateshead, as well as several vehicles destined for the West Midlands. Messages would later reveal that Kaloti had coordinated the operation and knew of the police strike.

Speaking after the pair were sentenced, Detective Chief Inspector Marc Michael of Northumbria Police’s Crime Department said: “Organised crime affects our communities in many ways and none of them are for the better. It is only right we keep bringing people like Kaloti and Wood before the courts and I am pleased with today’s sentences.

“We know that illegal drugs can harm people in a number of different ways, and the groups who sell them can bring violence, antisocial behaviour, and other types of criminality into our neighbourhoods which is why we are determined to put an end to is.

“Cannabis farms are hazardous and put people at risk with their bypassed electricity and chemical storage, not to mention the wider associated criminality of exploitation and slavery which goes on behind the scenes.

“As part of Operation Sentinel, we will continue our clampdown on organised crime and ask our communities to work with us by reporting suspicious activity to us and sharing their concerns.”

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