Two arrested after late night Harrogate drugs swoop

Two people have been arrested after police pulled over a car last night and found suspected class A drugs.

Officers from Operation Expedite, the county lines drugs team at North Yorkshire Police, stopped the vehicle.

Harrogate traffic police officer Sgt Paul Cording, who along with Harrogate traffic constable David Minto assisted the other officers, tweeted shortly after 5am:

“A search of the occupants revealed a number of clear bags containing believed class A drugs. Driver and passenger arrested and enquiries ongoing.”

This vehicle stopped by myself & @TC174_NYP along with our colleagues from #OpExpedite in #Harrogate A search of the occupants reveals a number of clear bags containing believed Class A drugs. Driver & passenger arrested & enquiries ongoing #NotInOurCounty #RoadsPolicing pic.twitter.com/BWx1zv9Al3

— Sgt Paul Cording BEM (@OscarRomeo1268) November 12, 2021

 

Guilty plea after £140,000 of cannabis seized in Boroughbridge

Two men who were stopped on the A1(M) at Boroughbridge have admitted their part in a major cannabis-supply operation.

Police seized 14 kilos of cannabis worth £140,000 when they pulled over Silvio Kondi, 30, and Flamur Saliasi, 45, on September 30.

They were arrested and charged with possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply.

Today, Kondi, of Tong Road, Farnley, near Leeds, and Saliasi, of no fixed address, appeared at York Crown Court where they pleaded guilty to the offence.

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Prosecutor Rachel Landing said the drugs had an estimated street value of £140,000.

She said that because of the sheer amount of the drugs seized, it had to be assumed that the two men had close ties to the “original source” of the supply chain.

Robert Mochrie, for Kondi, contested this allegation on behalf of his client, whom he said was merely a courier for the drug enterprise.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, adjourned sentence for the defendants’ bases of plea to be reviewed in terms of their respective roles within the drug operation. They will be sentenced on November 16. 

Police arrest five in Harrogate as part of national county lines action

North Yorkshire Police arrested five people in Harrogate as part of a national week of action to tackle county lines drug dealing.

The week started on Monday last week when officers stopped an 18-year-old man who was riding an illegal motor scooter.

Officers stopped him after smelling cannabis and seized 15 packages of the Class B drug.

They then arrested the man on suspicion of possessing cannabis with intent to supply before releasing him while under investigation.

Later that day officers arrested two women in their 30s in the Starbeck area on suspicion of possessing heroin with intent to supply. Again the suspects were released under investigation.

On Friday police arrested a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man on Jennyfield Drive after they earlier ran away from officers.

When the officers caught up with the pair, the officers seized ketamine, cannabis, £300 in cash and equipment police believe was being used for drug supply.

They arrested the two suspects on suspicion of possessing ketamine with intent to supply and possessing cannabis with intent to supply. They were released while under investigation.

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The activity was part of a national “week of intensification” led by the National Crime Agency that saw police forces across the country work to bring down drug dealers and safeguard vulnerable people.

Detective chief inspector Lorraine Crossman-Smith who coordinated the week of activity in North Yorkshire, said:

“This week’s action gives a glimpse of the work that goes on the target county lines drug dealing all year round.

“Thanks to these national weeks of action, we are able to draw on additional resources such as our British Transport Police colleagues, the Regional Organised Crime Unit and local partner agencies to tackle what is a major priority for us.

“In addition to enforcement activity, a major focus for North Yorkshire Police is protecting vulnerable people who are drawn into the world of drug dealing. Whether young people who are forced to sell drugs on behalf gangs. Or those who are forced to let drug dealers use their homes as a base for selling drugs in a form of exploitation known as “cuckooing”.

“It requires support from a number of agencies including local authorities, community safety partnerships, housing providers, charities, health workers and drug rehabilitation services. My thanks go to all the agencies who supported the week and for their ongoing efforts throughout the year.”

Two arrested after police seize drugs and zombie knife in Harrogate

Police arrested two men in Harrogate after stopping their car and finding a large quantity of drugs and a zombie knife.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police‘s county lines drugs team pulled over a Volkswagen Passat on Victoria Road last week.

They searched the men and found two bags containing around 100 wraps of suspected class A drugs and the knife.

The men, aged 18 and 31 and from the Bradford area, were arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs with intent to supply and possession of an offensive weapon.

Both suspects have been released by the police on conditional bail for further investigation.

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The officers were from North Yorkshire Police’s proactive county lines drugs team Operation Expedite team,

County lines refers to when dealers travel to smaller towns to sell drugs that they have advertised online.

Police revealed details of the incident today. A spokesperson said:

“We urge anyone with information about drug dealing or if they believe a vulnerable neighbour is being targeted by drug dealers to contact us or Crimestoppers.”

Anyone with concerns about county lines can speak to the police on 101 or call 999 in an emergency.

If you’d rather stay anonymous you can call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

18 charged with county lines drug dealing in Harrogate

Eighteen people are due to appear in court in Harrogate charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement this evening that four of the 18 have also been charged with human trafficking of young people.

The charges relate to Operation Jackal, an investigation into county lines drug dealing between Harrogate and Bradford.

The accused are due to appear at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court on October 7 and 21.

‘County lines’ refers to drug dealers in towns and cities establishing supply chains in rural areas, often using young and vulnerable people to carry, store, and sell drugs.

The charges follow a policing operation in Bradford and Harrogate last year involving North Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Police, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit, the National Crime Agency and the National County Lines Coordination Centre.

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Harrogate man: ‘My whole life has been consumed by drugs’

Two weeks ago, Chris Hollowed left jail after serving six months for dealing heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of Harrogate.

Since then, he has left his family in Harrogate to start a new life in Rotherham, away from old friends and haunts and, hopefully, old habits.

Drugs have scarred his life and after he was sentenced in March his daughter Mel Bowman got in touch to say her dad had never denied his guilt but she felt he had been let down by a lack of support.

She also wanted to convey that her dad was more than a ‘junkie’: he’s worked as a builder, decorator, plasterer and mechanic and has been a great support to many others.

Mr Hollowed agreed to talk frankly to the Stray Ferret about his experiences to give people an insight into how life can spiral out of control.

Harrogate council estate

He traces his problems back to growing up on the St Andrew’s council estate in Harrogate. His parents divorced at the age of six. He says:

“I’m the eldest of four children so I was allowed out a bit later and sent to the shops so I ended up knocking around with older boys. There was always a criminal element on the estate where I lived and I just fitted in.

“I started smoking cannabis when I was 12 or 13. At 16 I was sent to Borstal for stealing cars.

“When I went to Borstal I thought it was cool because there were older boys. I didn’t understand the lifestyle consequences.”

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Drugs have continued to scar Mr Hollowed, who has had several relationships and been homeless. He says it was a “natural progression” from cannabis to harder drugs.

“It doesn’t happen to everybody but when you smoke cannabis you can go from one drug to the next and they become more and more expensive. I’ve done everything you’d expect from an addict. Heroin is a completely different drug. It doesn’t just affect you mentally, it affects you physically.”

Clean from heroin

Mr Hollowed was jailed for a third time in March when he admitted two counts of supplying class A drugs last year. The court heard he had 105 offences on his record. His lawyer said he had an “entrenched” drug addiction dating back over 20 years, which had taken a heavy toll on his health. He was jailed in March and released on September 13.

He says he’s been clean from heroin for six months but was prescribed methadone in prison.

“I’m now on no drugs and no medication. Nothing.”

He’s living in a hostel in Rotherham with two other men. He says:

“I’ve had to leave my home town and family. If I go to Harrogate I will fail. I’m not saying I won’t fail here but I have a chance.

“I’m an older man now and can just walk my dog. I don’t need to be part of a clique anymore. My whole life has been consumed by drugs.

“I’m changing everything. I’m hoping to work for the local drug agency. I’m waiting to do exams. I’m 56. I’ve got 15 years of work I can give back. The lesson is it all starts with cannabis. But I need training.”

He makes no great promises about the future.

“I’ve talked to my daughter and ex-girlfriend and I have tried to get myself clean many times. In five years time I might be a success. Right now I’m not a success.”

He hopes to help others and that his story will help others view him and others with drug addictions in a more nuanced way.

Lack of support and compassion

His daughter, Mel Bowman, also wants people to know her dad’s situation is more complex than many people think and urges them to show compassion.

“He’s a great guy, he made bad choices and spent his life trying to make up for it.

“People will always overlook him as a person as just a junkie, it’s a lack of compassion and understanding that draws people to that conclusion.

“It’s easy to write people off under a stereotype, not so easy to offer help and support but he would be the first person to offer it if the shoe was on the other foot.”

Ms Bowman adds her dad got little response from employers when he was honest enough to admit he was a recovering addict.

“He eventually went and sought comfort from his past after getting no where with his future. Obviously drug users can’t be babysat and they don’t want that, they need to be reinstated into society with support and shown respect as you would give any other human.

“Also they can’t get the implant of the blocker anymore, which is key to supporting users through those first few months of recovery. You can get a tablet but that means you’re relying on willpower alone, which isn’t easy.

“It’s these types of things that would really help. On paper the support is there but in reality it’s not there quick enough and not easily accessible.”

Police take down ‘county lines’ drug deal phone line advertising to Harrogate addicts

Police in Harrogate have taken down a “county lines” phone line used to advertise drugs to local addicts.

Drug dealers in Leeds and Bradford used the line to advertise crack cocaine and cocaine for sale in Harrogate. It was known as the “Danny” line.

Phone lines like the “Danny” line allow out-of-town heroin and cocaine dealers to send mass text messages promoting their drugs for sale, and when and where they can be picked up.

When a mobile phone is seized from suspected drug dealers, numbers and associated contacts can be reactivated within hours. However, taking down the whole line and removing the number from circulation permanently means drug dealers can no longer advertise.

The line was taken down after officers applied to Newcastle County Court for a Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restriction Order (DDTRO) on Wednesday.

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County lines is where drug dealers from urban areas exploit vulnerable people, including children, and force them to deal drugs in smaller towns and cities.

Inspector Penny Taylor of North Yorkshire Police, said:

“These orders are a helpful disruption tactic to interrupt the flow of drugs. The orders allow us to take down the line and remove the phone number from circulation permanently, meaning it cannot ever be reactivated on another device, depriving the dealers of the key means to sell their drugs.

“Drug dealing and the associated exploitation of vulnerable people is a foremost priority for North Yorkshire Police and we will continue to target dealers who prey on the vulnerable and cause misery in our communities.”

The action is part of a wider Harrogate-based investigation into drugs supply known as Operation Network. Since August 2020, Operation Network has seen 18 people arrested.

Seventy three year old woman admits role in Harrogate cannabis farms

A 73 year old former Harrogate guest house owner has admitted her part in cannabis farms worth half a million pounds.

Yoko Banks offered three of her properties to an Albanian gang to grow cannabis with yields of up to £475,000 if sold on the street, Leeds Crown Court heard.

The London-based gang set up three cannabis farms at Banks’s properties on Alexandra Road, Woodlands Road and Somerset Road.

The pensioner and six Albanian men were arrested in September last year when police swooped on three properties on the same day and stopped a van with cannabis inside. The vehicle was thought to be heading for London or the South-East.

Banks, of Scargill Road, was charged with three counts of being concerned in the supply of cannabis on or before September 27 but initially denied the offences. Her trial was due to start this week but on Monday she changed her plea to guilty on all three charges.

The six Albanian men – Kujtim Brahaj, 50, Indrit Brahaj, 27, Visar Sellaj, 33, Bledar Elezaj, 36, Andi Kokaj, 23, and Erblin Elezaj, 33 – had already admitted various charges in relation to the six-figure drug enterprise.

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Prosecutor Martin Bosomworth said it was the Crown’s case that Sellaj and another named man, who was never arrested, were the ringleaders of the mega-money cannabis plot and that Banks, who had been targeted by the gang for her properties, was not actively involved in the growing of the plants, although she had played a “significant”, advisory role.

Her potential profit was said to be limited or “capped”, based on her role as “facilitator” by allowing her premises to be used for the illicit practice.

Each of the seven defendants, including Banks, will be sentenced on Friday.

Mr Bosomworth said that Banks’s role was to “let out these properties knowing what they were used for”.

Banks had a “body of evidence” stacked against her, not least “(telephone) conversations at length” with the unnamed man thought to be the “leading light or middle man in all this”.

Benjamin Whittingham, for Banks, said her involvement in the drug plot was “indirect” and amounted to “facilitating”.

She had previous convictions for health-and-safety offences through her work but nothing drug-related.

The former guest-house owner, who owned “multiple” properties and was said to have numerous bank accounts, had been letting properties to people on benefits.

She had been on bail since her arrest partly for her own safety as it was feared she might be blamed by the gang for the loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of drugs.

Indrit Brahaj, of Whitings Road, Barnet; Kokaj, from London but of no fixed address; Sellaj, of Newnham Road, London; and Erblin Elezaj, also from London but of no fixed abode, all admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis and possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply.

Kujtim Brahaj, of Wellington Road, Enfield, and Bledar Elezaj, from London but of no fixed address, each admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis.

Indrit Brahaj was said to be the gang’s driver, making deliveries such as fertilisers to the cannabis factory.

Judge Tom Bayliss QC told Banks:

“You have pleaded guilty to various serious offences but I’m not going to consider sentence until Thursday.”

Each of the six Albanian men had been remanded in custody since their arrest and will remain locked up until they learn their fates later this week.

Crime commissioner pledges extra police for Harrogate’s Mayfield Grove

The North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has pledged to push for increased policing in the Mayfield Grove area of Harrogate.

Philip Allott visited the area yesterday to hear concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour on Mayfield Grove and nearby streets, such as Mayfield Terrace and Nydd Vale Terrace.

He was invited by Paul Ivison, who has set up a residents group for people worried about drug dealing, car crime, speeding and anti-social behaviour, particularly in some houses in multiple occupation let by landlords, .

Mr Allott said:

“I will ask the police to step up neighbourhood policing in this area. I will ask them to target the drug dealers and make it hard for the supply chain to operate.”

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He also urged Harrogate Borough Council to take a tougher line against landlords that didn’t do enough to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour on their premises.

“The council possibly needs to be a little more active and realise this is a serious issue. I don’t think the district council has quite latched on to that.

“I will be asking Harrogate Borough Council to be more proactive and serve further closure notices against landlords where relevant.”

North Yorkshire Police and Harrogate Borough Council issued a three-month closure order on 38 Mayfield Grove in March. The two organisations can apply to a court for a closure order if they have concerns about antisocial behaviour and criminal behaviour on premises.

‘Abused by beggars’

Mr Ivison told the commissioner many town centre street beggars stayed in bedsits in the area and said the police should issue more Public Spaces Protection Orders to prevent begging in town, as many of those doing it weren’t genuine rough sleepers, were taking advantage of people and making a mess.

Mr Allott agreed the “town centre was being abused by beggars” who took advantage of “kindly, well disposed people who think they are helping”, adding:

“It’s patently clear a lot of these characters in the town centre are not what they present themselves to be.

“But I do recognise that there are a minority of people who through no fault of their own find themselves in a destitute position.”

Mr Allott said he supported the use of Public Spaces Protection Orders “where it is proportionate and necessary but not as a blanket measure”.

Ripon cocaine and heroin dealer jailed after police raid

A cocaine and heroin dealer has been jailed for over two years after police raided her home in Ripon.  

Jemima Walker, 27, was found surrounded by drug paraphernalia when police entered her ground-floor flat on Aismunderby Road.

They seized drug bags, two sets of weighing scales, a notebook with customer lists, £480 cash, four mobile phones and two relatively small amounts of heroin and cocaine.

Analysis of her “telephone traffic” showed she had been dealing for “quite some time” and had a “large client base”, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Anne Richardson said there were 118 incriminating text messages in total, in some of which her customers referred to her by her nickname, ‘Mima’.

Walker was charged with two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply following the drugs bust on May 16, 2019. She was also charged with one count of simple possession after being found with cocaine at an address in Gallows Hill Park, Ripon, in September of that year, while on bail for the dealing matters.

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She admitted all three offences and appeared for sentence on Friday.

Cocaine in Harrogate

The court heard that Walker had a previous conviction for drug possession from February last year after she was caught with cocaine in Harrogate.

Richard Reed, for Walker, said she was leading a “fairly chaotic” lifestyle at the time and ended up losing her home.

She had a drugs relapse and started dealing to pay debts to ‘county lines’ suppliers and feed her own habit, he added.

Recorder Abdul Iqbal QC described Walker’s drug enterprise as a “reasonably slick operation”.

He added:

“Text messages seem to suggest that it was a large client base.”

He said it was clear that Walker had used her flat to “package and process” hard drugs and that it had been going on “for some time”.

Although she was feeding her own habit, she had been profiting from “multiple supplies of Class A drugs…for a matter of months and significant amounts of money were being (made)”.

Walker had played an “operational or management” role in the supply chain, added Mr Iqbal.

Walker was jailed for two years and three months, of which she will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.