Three men were jailed for drugs offences after being kept under surveillance for five months
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Police in the South East Region organised crime unit seized an estimated total of £400,000 worth of drugs from a "sophisticated organised criminal gang".
Four men were sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday, June 8.
Officers began surveillance on drug dealer Paul Chance in March 2014 - code name Operation Valium.
Michael Roques prosecuting said “it became apparent to officers that Mr Chance spent the majority of his days operating from his van”.
In fact Mr Roques was later to observe that Chance didn’t seem to spend any time plying his legitimate trade as a builder.
On April 8, 2014, Chance was seen with Ahmer Siddiqui at Finch Road, Earley - a council flat allocated to Mr Siddiqui’s brother who had learning disabilities and had not yet moved in.
The two men were observed discarding bin liners which police said smelled of cannabis.
On April 29, police followed Chance to the flat again and then when he left, they executed a search warrant and found 440g of cannabis, 1.8 kilos of sodium acetate (used for flavouring salt and vinegar crisps but also as a cutting agent by drug dealers) and lithium citrate - another substance used for cutting drugs.
The drugs were found behind a facia panel in the kitchen.
Police also found electronic scales with traces of heroin and cocaine. Chance’s fingerprints were on the bags of cutting agent and Siddiqui’s on the scales.
Police did not arrest anyone at this stage.
Mr Roques said: “Mr Chance spent a significant amount of time on his phone.”
He went on to say Chance changed his phone 11 times in the five months he was under surveillance - “each time when something happened that caused him concern”.
On April 23, 2014, Chance was arrested and his van was searched. Police found a bag containing 123g of heroin of 60 per cent purity, electronic scales and 5g of MDMA.
Police searched an address in Whitley associated with Chance and found 1.99k of cannabis in the bath tub and two further packets of heroin totalling 369g of 58 per cent and 61 per cent purity in the extractor fan of the cooker.
The total quantity of heroin found associated with Chance was 498g and 1.8 kilos of cutting agents.
Richard Gomm was arrested at his home in Malone Road, Woodley. Police found a box containing 197g of cocaine, 182g heroin, 469g cannabis and 3.34k of cutting agent.
On the bag of cannabis police found the fingerprints of Marcus Barnard.
At Gomm’s house were scales with traces of cocaine and heroin, a vacuum food bag sealer, latex gloves and £900 in cash.
Gomm was a mechanic and at his workshop in Woodland Farm in Wokingham police found 1.12kilos of herbal cannabis, 3.84kilos of cannabis resin, 0.77g of MDMA, 1.99g of amphetatmines.
Two hydraulic presses fitted with special plates for pressing Class A drugs were seized, vacuum bags and electronic scales.
Mr Roques argued in court that the actual amount of Class A drugs found when mixed with a cutting agent might as much as double the quantity sold at street level.
He said the press would have been used after the heroin and cocaine had been cut and formed into a powder to press back into blocks to make it appear it had not been cut or adulterated.
He said a kilo of cocaine “retails at £50,000 and a kilo of cutting agent at around £250”.
He added: ”One can see the potential profit”.
Michael Skelly defending Chance said he had been shot some time before his arrest in Liverpool as a result of “unresolved debts” and become involved with drugs again “for fear of reprisals”.
He described him as a reliable building and maintenance man who let properties and also “traded in counterfeit tobacco”. He said of a 49-year-old family man, the prospect of prison was a “real personal tragedy”.
John Simmons, defending Gomm, said after the drugs were seized “he had been hospitalised by the people that were owed money.
“He had a fractured eye socket. You live by the sword and die by the sword.”
He described Mr Roques’s calculations on the potential amounts of drugs involved when increased by the cutting agent as “guesswork and alchemy”.
Neil Griffin defending Siddiqui said he had worked for many years for the Royal Bank of Scotland until he was made redundant. After that the father-of-five became depressed and began to use drugs.
He said he became involved in these offences “to address the debt he owed to drug dealers up the chain”.
Barnard was described as being of previous good character.
Chance, 49, of Colemans Moor Road, Woodley, was jailed for a total of eight years, Gomm, 48, of Malone Road, Woodley , for a total of five years and four months, Siddiqui, 38, of Cotswold Way, Tilehurst , for a total of two years and Barnard, 21, of Lexington Grove, Whitley Wood, was sentenced to 240 hours unpaid work.
Judge Alexia Durran alluded to Chance’s own letter to her when she sentenced him. He said: “I have made a series of mistakes that have led to this point in my life.”
She also referred to a character reference letter about Gomm in which the writer said: “It’s a pity his life has come to this.”
Judge Durran said: “It’s a sentiment that I echo.”
After the hearing, investigating officer Detective Sergeant Clair Chegwidden from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit said:“This investigation was focused on and around drug supply within Reading and surrounding areas of the South East Region.
“It was clear that this was a sophisticated organised criminal gang causing misery and serious harm to our communities throughout Reading and the surrounding areas through the supply of drugs.
“We confiscated an estimated total of more than £400,000 of drugs which were intended for the street. The gang operated out of Reading and stretched as far as Brighton, West Sussex.
“We are pleased with the sentences, which show criminal gangs that we will protect our communities across the South East Region by targeting offenders and ensuring they are stopped from operating.”
Taladafil We have provided a clarification about the involvement of Mr Siddiqui in this case.