Newport drug dealer caught after WhatsApp chat

Kayley ThomasProducer, Catching a Crime BossWatch detectives smash their manner into medication boss Robert Andrews Jr’s home in an early morning raidTo the skin world he seemed like a hard-working father who lived in a modest, end-of-terrace home.”There was nothing flash about him in any respect, nothing screamed this particular person is a drug supplier,” mentioned the covert officer who led the surveillance of Robert Andrews Jr.The 34-year-old wasn’t even on the radar of police till officers discovered messages from him on the cellphone of one other gang chief, wherein they joked they’d both find yourself “millionaires” or “sharing a cell” as they frequently sorted six-figure drug offers.Detectives rapidly realised that behind the everyman picture, Andrews Jr was the mastermind of a multi-million pound drug empire promoting cocaine and heroin on an industrial scale.Secret police filming quickly caught Andrews Jr doing brazen Class A drug offers in broad daylight and handing over greater than £100,000 at a time in grocery store provider baggage.”He appeared like a mean man, at all times wore his work garments, lived in a daily home, together with his associate and youngsters,” a covert officer instructed the BBC’s Catching a Crime Boss.Gwent PoliceRobert Andrews Jr was a medication kingpin working underneath the radar of police till a WhatsApp message modified all of it”There was no excessive worth car, no designer clothes.”Organised crime detectives have been alerted to Andrews Jr when officers discovered some revealing WhatsApp messages on the cellphone of one other medication kingpin known as Kerry Evans.Evans lived 30 miles (48km) away in Merthyr Tydfil and after arresting him, investigators discovered Evans had frequently messaged one quantity particularly to organise drug offers and funds. That quantity belonged to a Robert Andrews Jr from Newport. Evans was sentenced to 14 years and 5 months in jail final yr and Andrews Jr was quickly to observe.”It would not require a mass of data, generally it is just a bit nugget that may begin the job off,” admitted Gwent Police’s Det Insp Ian Bartholomew.The WhatsApp exchanges recommended to police that Andrews Jr was a “excessive degree” supplier and detectives have been warned that “superior ways” can be wanted as a result of he may be “troublesome to catch”.Surveillance of Andrews Jr rapidly revealed his underground world.Clandestine officers – underneath operation title Mayland – adopted him to common liaisons at a secluded woodland patch of land close to the busy M4 motorway the place a number of medication exchanges have been caught on digicam.”This was a selected space of curiosity through the investigation,” the covert officer recalled.”We seen plenty of criminality was happening on this cleared space.”This location turned identified merely as “the clearing”.Gwent PoliceCovert officers rapidly established a lot of Andrews Jr’s medication transactions have been in a distant location they known as ‘the clearing’ “It was a really dense space,” she added.”You’d solely go there when you knew it or had particular instructions so I feel it was an actual secure place the place the organised crime group can conduct their criminality and really feel like they weren’t within the public eye.”One change resulted within the arrest of taxi driver Mohammed Yamin, whose cab was intercepted by police after he drove from “the clearing” the place he had collected 2kg (4.4lb) of excessive purity cocaine from Andrews Jr.It had a avenue worth of round £200,000 and resulted in Yamin getting a six-and-a-half yr jail sentence for possession with intent to provide.Gwent PoliceNewport taxi driver Mohammed Yamin was caught by police on a busy twin carriageway with 2kg (4.4lb) cocaine in his cab Surveillance confirmed how Andrews Jr used “tokens” to verify his cash received to his provider.In a single change, he was seen taking a £5 financial institution notice from a person who received into his automobile, after which checking it.He didn’t know the person, however knew there was a money runner arriving from London to gather the cash he owed his provider.The distinctive serial quantity on the financial institution notice was the authentication he wanted to make sure he was handing the money over to the precise particular person.The money runner’s bag was later seized and located to include £109,000.The investigation discovered proof on Andrews Jr’s cellphone that he had made common funds of comparable quantities to his provider.Illustrating the size of his operation, in two weeks alone he had made six funds to his suppliers, totalling £650,000.Gwent PoliceThe investigation discovered proof the group was working at a excessive degree with photographs of huge piles of money shared between them. A notice on Robert Andrews cellphone mentioned this shoe field contained £102,000Covert officers have been assured they have been watching an organised crime group in motion and raided Andrews Jr’s home within the early hours of the morning simply earlier than Christmas in 2023.In a remaining try to cowl his tracks, Andrews Jr threw his cell phone on prime of a bed room wardrobe simply earlier than police burst into the room to arrest him.As he was being handcuffed and the covert officer set out the explanations for his arrest, he laughed and “appeared fairly unfazed”, the officer mentioned.His cell phone was recovered and proved essential to the investigation because it contained detailed logs of who had ordered what, how a lot was owed to him and the quantity he owed his suppliers.Gwent PoliceRobert Andrews Jr was shocked in a daybreak raid by detectives simply earlier than Christmas in 2023″Robert Andrews wasn’t any individual who was dealing on a avenue nook or to his associates,” mentioned Det Ch Supt Andrew Tuck.”He was dealing in giant portions, kilo quantities of managed medication, which might equate to cocaine the dimensions of a bag of sugar at a time.”Police thought of Andrews Jr the principal member of an organised crime group supplying cocaine and heroin throughout south Wales.Gwent PoliceAn picture of a branded block of cocaine that Robert Andrews despatched to Kerry Evans telling him he’d “despatched driver up your methods bro””Whenever you take a look at the portions of money concerned, we’re speaking tens if not tons of of hundreds of kilos per change for as much as 4 or 5 kilos of cocaine at a time,” added Det Ch Supt Tuck.Whereas Andrews Jr didn’t present indicators of his illicit wealth by means of “flash automobiles or costly designer garments”, police thought he was funnelling his drug money into constructing a brand new residence on secluded land.When officers raided the unfinished property, they discovered a £60,000 kitchen and lavish furnishings which recommended a degree of wealth that the covert officer who arrested him mentioned an “common working particular person would not have been capable of afford”.Gwent PoliceRobert Andrews Jr initially supplied a no remark interview to police however pleaded responsible to 2 fees of conspiracy to provide and really supplying Class A medication Andrews Jr admitted to 2 fees – one in every of conspiracy to provide cocaine and heroin and the second to really supplying these medication – in the beginning of 2024.However on account of quite a lot of linked instances, it took nearly two years for him to be sentenced.Earlier this month, Andrews Jr was sentenced to 14 years and eight months by a choose at Newport Crown Courtroom – half of which shall be served in jail and the opposite half on licence.Samuel Takahashi, described by police as a “important member” of Andrews Jr’s organised crime group, was sentenced to eight years.The 34-year-old from Newport had additionally had been caught on police cameras through the 9 months of surveillance exchanging medication with Andrews Jr, generally at “the clearing”. Decide Carl Harrison instructed Andrews Jr at his sentencing that dealing medication “fuels distress” and that he must be “ashamed” of involving his personal mom in his “legal enterprise”. At a trial earlier this yr, she had been given a suspended sentence for paying one in every of her son’s couriers.Gwent PoliceMany of Robert Andrews Jr’s offers have been in broad daylight with medication and hundreds of kilos of money in grocery store provider baggage After monitoring Andrews Jr, police recognized one in every of his suppliers from the north-west of England.Nathan Jones from Bolton, in Larger Manchester, was given an 18 yr sentence after the 32-year-old was discovered promoting greater than £1m price of cocaine to Andrews Jr’s gang.Jones had paid Rahail Mehrban, who can be from Bolton, £2,000 to courier half-a-million kilos price of cocaine from Manchester to Newport. The 32-year-old was sentenced to 10 years and 9 months.”I hope this sends a robust message to anyone that drug crime has no place in our communities and there shall be penalties,” added Det Ch Supt Tuck.