DRUGS IN CABS: PASSENGERS
GUN, CANNABIS AND CASH FOUND AFTER POLICE PULL OVER TAXI IN SUTTON IN ASHFIELD
A taxi passenger had a large amount of cash and an imitation handgun taken off him after Nottinghamshire Police pulled over the vehicle he was travelling in. The force says that officers from its Ashfield Operation Reacher team pulled the taxi over in Sutton-in- Ashfield just before 10am on Tuesday 8 November. The passenger was also found to be in possession of cannabis, as well as the cash and gas-powered
pellet gun. A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm and possessing a class B drug. Nottinghamshire Police says the gun will be sent for further investigation, whilst the cash will be placed in secure police storage until the suspect can prove it came from a legal source. PC Jade Massey, of Nottingham- shire Police, said: “We had reason
to believe that the passenger in this taxi may have been in possession of illegal items and very quickly had our suspicions confirmed. “Weapons of this nature may not be genuine firearms, but they can still cause significant injury, alarm and distress to members of the public who are not trained to know the difference. I am pleased we have now been able to take this device off the streets.”
BUNGLING CHESHIRE METH DEALER CAUGHT BY POLICE AFTER LEAVING BAG OF DRUGS IN PHV
A crystal meth dealer led police straight to his door after carelessly leaving behind £35,000 worth of the drug in a PHV in Manchester. Sean O’Neill, 29, also accidentally left ketamine and cannabis in the cab he had taken to
fetch
cardboard boxes, believed to contain bottles of another illegal drug, GBL.
He had booked a PHV which dropped him off at the Lumiere Building in central Manchester with the boxes of GBL, which sells for around £100 a litre. Earlier that day, on December 18 last year, he went to a storage facility in Salford where was handed a red TK Maxx bag, which he put in the rear of the PHV, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Prosecutor David Watson told the court he was driven to the Lumiere Building but left the vehicle with the bag still inside. He later realised his mistake and rang the cab firm who told him he could collect the
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belongings. Police waited for him to arrive but he sent another cab to collect them though the driver, who O’Neill used to deliver drugs and cash, but he was not allowed to do so.
The drugs he left behind in the bag included 181 grams of methylamphetamine, known as crystal meth, 261 grams of ketamine worth £3,680 and 19 grams of cannabis. A set of scales was also found with traces of those drugs. Police identified O’Neill as the passenger as he had used his mobile to book the minicab. He was not arrested for a considerable time, and though he knew he was wanted, he continued to deal drugs, the court heard.
Messages from the phone of the PHV driver he sent to the police station to collect his mislaid drugs showed he used him to take GBL to London and other errands such as collecting cash from locations in the North West including depositing £2,000 in O’Neill’s bank account. He told him he typically made £2,000 a day from drug dealing. O’Neill was eventually arrested on June 21 near a gym in Wirral, after falling asleep in a taxi under the influence of drugs. A holdall with him contained seven bags of cannabis and 11 bags of crystal meth. O’Neill, from Cheshire, pleaded guilty to eight offences involving possession with intent to supply the drugs and conspiring to supply those drugs and also GBL between December last year and June 21. Judge Neil Flewitt, KC jailed the dad-of-two for eight and a half years.
DECEMBER 2022 PHTM
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