North Wales drug gang mastermind Aled Gray jailed for ten years

The leader of a Holyhead drugs supply gang, which sought to control the heroin and cocaine market throughout North Wales, has been jailed for ten years.

Aled Gray, 35 of Holyhead, who owned two pubs in the town, admitted conspiring to supply both class A drugs.

His sentence means 27 defendants have been jailed for more than 182 years as part of special police Operation Zeus.

Police identified two organised criminal gangs working together and operating out of the coastal towns of Denbighshire, Conwy and Anglesey. Mold Crown Court heard how they were responsible for sourcing "industrial quantities" of cocaine and heroin from gangs in Liverpool and Manchester.

During the investigation police recovered Class A drugs and a large amount of Benzocaine, commonly used to bulk out drugs in order to maximise the profit, indicating the scale of setup - all with a potential street value of £2.7 million.

Prosecuting barrister Andrew Jones said Gray was the controlling mind of the western organised crime group and masterminded all aspects of the operation from sourcing through to logistics and distribution.

Gray, he said, was shrewd and kept himself at arm's length from the "dirty end of the business."

Detective Inspector Lee Boycott said: “The clear criminal case presented to the court led to an unprecedented unanimous clean sweep of guilty pleas across the entire 27 people who made up the gang.”

Insp Boycott added: “I have worked in serious and organised crime for over 13 years and never seen such high drugs productivity. The combined forces the two groups created has resulted in the highest cumulative sentence ever seen in North Wales.”

“It is the aim of any drug dealer to operate in the shadows away from the glare of the police. Drugs supply causes misery and a corruption in our communities it will therefore always remain a priority for the police."

Jim Sturman, QC, defending, said that his client accepted playing a leading role but he was not the pre-eminent figure.

He was the black sheep of his family whose parents had died young and left money and a business to him and his family.