Four men jailed in Newcastle over "industrial" Bromazolam drugs operation
Four men have been jailed for their roles in a conspiracy to produce and supply drugs on an industrial scale.
Dale Dunn, Jack Freeman, Jake Galea-Hughes and Graeme Rutherford were all arrested following a police operation on 25 April 2024.
Officers forced entry into a storage unit at a business premises in the Bowburn area of County Durham.
An pill-pressing machine capable of producing millions of tablets was discovered and seized, along with hundreds of thousands of tablets which were confirmed as Class C drugs, predominantly Bromazolam.
A synthetic drug which was first conceived in the 1970s but has risen to prominence since 2016.
Officers then located a secondary storage site in the Birtley area of Gateshead where thousands more tablets were found, with the overall operation understood to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The four conspirators were arrested at the sites and later charged with the offence of being concerned in the production and supply of Class C drugs, and participating in criminal activities of an organised crime group.
All four pleaded guilty to the charges, and appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday for sentencing.
Dale Dunn, 27, of Mardale Gardens, Gateshead, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.
Jack Freeman, 24, of Slaley Close, Gateshead, was sentenced to two years in prison.
Jake Galea-Hughes, 29, of Whitefield Pit, Houghton, also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, a two-year Serious Crime Prevention Order and six points on his driving licence.
Graeme Rutherford, 52, of Railway Cottages, Birtley, also pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class B drugs, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
Speaking after sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Marc Michael, of Northumbria Police, said: “This is a superb result following an excellent operation which involved teamwork from staff across the Force.
“A conspiracy on this scale would have brought in vast sums of money to potentially be reinvested into further criminal enterprises, and the Class C drugs could have caused serious harm to anybody who abused them.
“Criminals ruthlessly look to exploit the addiction and desperation of the most vulnerable members of our communities to further their own illegal interests.”
Det Ch Insp Michael added: “This latest successful operation reinforces our zero-tolerance stance to drug-related criminality in our Force area under the banner of Operation Sentinel.
“We will do everything in our power to bring those involved before the courts to face justice, and we need members of the public to continue working with us by reporting any suspicions they have to us.”
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