JAILED: £2m gang took drugs from Midlands to Devon

The three men – including one from Wolverhampton – were monitored by police as they made the last of 16 deliveries and 1kg of high grade cocaine was seized near the centre of Exeter.

The drugs were being bulked out with the mixing agent creatine when police raided a flat in Old Tiverton Road in November last year.

They also found ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis which had been brought down on the previous 15 drug runs.

The street value of each delivery is estimated at almost £150,000, meaning the total value of the operation could have been close to £2.4 million.

Courier Olger Plepi was tracked as he made the final handover after parking boot to boot in Mount Pleasant Road, Exeter, with Thomas Karaaslan and transferring the cocaine wrapped in a duvet.

The leader of the Exeter end of the gang, Cagdas Demir, was seen in a car elsewhere in the street, checking the transfer went smoothly.

Phone evidence showed he had been in phone contact with Plepi or other couriers on every one of the 16 days where the delivery runs were made.

A flat in Old Tiverton Road, where Demir had lived previously and where Karaaslan was staying, was raided and the kilo of cocaine was found.

Officers also found large amounts of drugs left over from previous deliveries and a bowl where cocaine was being diluted from 80 to 60 per cent purity by adding mixing agents.

Plepi, aged 32, of Hobgate Road, Wolverhampton, Demir, aged 28, of Sidwell Street, Exeter, and Karaaslan, aged 32, of Queensway, Tiverton, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Karaaslan, also admitted conspiracy to supply ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis.

Plepi was jailed for six years and eight months, Demir for seven years, eight months, and Karaaslan for six years by Recorder Mr Martin Meeke QC at Exeter Crown Court.

He told them: "1kg of cocaine was seized worth almost £150,000 and there is no reason to suppose there was any more or any less on the earlier occasions.

"You have been described as cogs in a chain and it may well be that in one way or another you have been pressured by others.

"I have to strike a balance because the public who must be protected from class A drugs and the devastation they cause to addicts and their families and on the other, your personal circumstances.

"I must come down in favour of the protection of the public, when you consider how many street deals can be produced from a kilogram of cocaine.

"The message must go out by this sentence that you, and all who become involved in supplying class A drugs, will be punished severely."

Mr Brian Fitzherbert, prosecuting, said police used surveillance data, cell site analysis of mobile phones, and numberplate recognition evidence to show there had been 16 deliveries between August and November last year.

On November 10 Plepi drove from Walsall to Mount Pleasant Road, where he transferred drugs in a duvet to the back seat of Karaaslan's Skoda.

The flat in Old Tiverton Road was searched later that day and 1.169kg of cocaine with 80 per cent purity along with smaller amounts of the drug, some of which had been cut, and some of which was being cut.

There was also 1.8kg of creatine. The value was from £41,000 wholesale to £149,700 if cut and sold in street deals.

Mr Fitzherbert said: "There were traces of cocaine on scales and other equipment. The police drugs expert has described the operation at the flat as a production line."

Miss Emily Cook, for Karaaslan, said he had a difficult childhood which led him into drug use. He is lightly convicted and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Mr Nicolas Gerasimidis, for Demir, said he had mental health issues which caused him to become involved with drugs and estranged him from his family, who run a kebab shop in Exeter.

Mr Martin Husayin, for Plepi, said he got into debt after suffering from cancer a few years ago and was being paid just £100 to bring the drugs to Devon.

He did not enjoy a lavish lifestyle and was still working as a metal worker in Walsall at the same time as he was doing the drugs runs.

He said:"We are not dealing with a professional overseas criminal. He got into serious crime for the first time in his life."