Wakefield dealer arrested at Manchester Airport after stepping off holiday flight
A dealer who returned from a holiday to Turkey was met by police at the airport when he touched down.
Jonathan Plews’ relaxed return to the UK was ruined when he was led away to be quizzed about his dealings in cocaine, ketamine and cannabis.
It stemmed from a police operation in which a home in Woolley Grange, south of Wakefield, was raided on August 31 last year. The officers found a large bag of ketamine weighing almost 1kg in a safe. It is estimated to be worth around £20,000, prosecutor Samuel Ponniah told Leeds Crown Court.
A man was arrested at the scene, but forensic analysis found finger prints on the drug packaging that belonged to Plews. Nearby CCTV footage also showed that he made regular visits to the property in his Audi A3. He was also banned from driving at the time.
Plews was stopped at the airport on September 14. Phones seized showed communications referencing the large-scale buying and selling of cocaine, ketamine and cannabis, along with evidence that he was in charge of multiple street dealers.
They also linked him to another defendant, 35-year-old Daniel Lee Hargreaves, whose home on Soho Grove in Wakefield was raided on June 30 last year. Officers found 3.4kg of cannabis worth up to £34,000 in the property.
Mr Ponniah said 34-year-old Plews, of Langsett Road, Wakefield, was high-up the dealing chain with Hargreaves serving as a “lieutenant”.
They both admitted conspiracy to supply ketamine and cannabis, and intent to supply cannabis, with Plews also admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine, possession with intent to supply ketamine, and driving while banned.
Hargreaves has seven previous convictions, with Plews’ record sheet showing 13 convictions. None were for drug dealing.
Mitigating for Plews, Mohammed Rafiq said he had been on remand since his arrest and had never been to prison before, but was expecting a lengthy sentence.
He said Plews was addicted to drugs from an early age and sold them to feed his habit. In a letter penned to the judge, Plews spoke of his time held in prison and said: “I have seen first-hand the effects that drugs have on people’s lives. I’m ashamed to be involved with drug dealing. I will never go back to it.”
Mr Rafiq said Plews was now free from drugs and making use of his time, taking educational courses and working four days a week in prison in the sewing room.
For Hargreaves, who had also been held on remand, a probation report recommended that he be given a sentence in the community, which Judge Andrew Stubbs KC agreed with.
He gave him 24 months’ jail, suspended for 24 months, and 150 hours of unpaid work.
Turning to Plews, Judge Stubbs said: “You were in charge of this operation, and Hargreaves was working for you. You approached wholesalers to scale up your operation.”
He jailed him for 48 months, and gave him a driving ban for more around four-and-a-half years. A third defendant, who was arrested at the house in Woolley Grange, is due to stand trial next year.