Cash, cocaine, and high-spec cars - the drugs operation brought down by our officers

Money counting machines, stolen high-spec cars, a cocaine press, a storage unit, guns, and tens of thousands of pounds in cash.

No, this wasn’t an episode of Narcos. This was the East Lincolnshire drugs operation thwarted by our officers – and almost all of the organised crime group responsible have now been handed hefty sentences by the courts.

Over the course of nine months, our officers seized the following:

• Three cash counting machines
• A cocaine press for pressing cocaine into quarter or half kilo blocks
• 4 cars with a total value of £100,000 which had been stolen from Birmingham and Leeds
• Fake VIN and number plates which could be used on stolen cars to make the vehicle appear legitimate
• 1 gun and 40 rounds of ammunition
• Three cans of PAVA
• Offensive weapons including a butterfly knife, machete, knuckle duster, military knife, and samurai swords
• £17,282.96 cash
• Drugs including 274 grams of cocaine, 3,677 grams of cannabis, and 133 grams of ketamine

What we want to do is tell you the back-story, lifting the veil on how we did it, so our communities can understand exactly what goes in to bringing down an operation like this.

It started in November 2022 after officers carried out another operation which led to them finding messages on the phone of a drug dealer from Coventry which showed he was being supplied drugs in wholesale quantities by a male known as “T”, or “Ayup”.  Off the back of their original find, the detectives turned their attention to the phones of other drug dealers they had already investigated, and found that “T” was consistently being referenced.

Intelligence led to this man being identified as 31-year-old Anthony Russell, of Wilford Grove, Skegness.

The information on these phones led to the launch of an investigation into drug dealing in the coastal towns of Mablethorpe and Skegness, as well as the cloning and handling of stolen vehicles, weapons offences, and driving offences.

First, they needed to understand the players involved, their backgrounds, risk, and criminal associations.

Working with probation services to understand more about Russell’s history, they learnt he had been released on license in July 2020, five years into a ten year sentence for stabbing two people. Russell had been arrested in July 2022 in connection with a stolen car and handling stolen goods, and had been recalled to prison. Instead, he’d fled to Ireland where he stayed for two months, and continued to control a drug dealing operation in Skegness before returning on his own volition with a false identity.

Once he came to our officers’ attention in November that year in connection with the serious organised crime investigation, we linked his summertime activities to our case. This formed part of the evidence about the breadth and scale of the conspiracy.

So firm was Russell’s grip on his operation, that even after he was arrested again and sent back to prison for breaching his licence, he continued to be in control, using a tiny mobile phone hidden in a bar of soap to maintain contact with his gang. The prison found the phone and our officers investigated the contents, and found that he was in contact via phone calls with Ross Thompson, 24, of The Causeway, Burgh Le Marsh. 

Thompson’s phone was seized following his arrest in August 2023, which confirmed the phone calls had taken place and also showed messages between Billy Blease, 27, of Blyton House, Skegness and Thompson.

The ongoing dive into the data on the phones of several people proved to be a gold mine for the case. Data and other police intelligence linked Thompson, Andrew Critchlow, 30, of Lumley Avenue, Skegness, and Callum Kerry, 21, of Drummond Road, Skegness to the investigation.

Critchlow was found to have had his own team of cocaine dealers and couriers, and was supplying cocaine to Aaron Fowler, 29, of Pickwell Way, Skegness, who was then converting the cocaine into crack cocaine to make it smokable, and dealing it on the streets.

Thompson was dealing in large quantities, supplying the dealers locally with drugs.

Detective Mike Simpson from the Serious Organised Crime Unit led the investigation. He said: “This became one of the most complex investigations into a serious organised crime group to have been run completely in Force.  

"A large amount of the evidence in this case came from digital forensics, as well as searches of suspect homes and a storage unit, interviews, and assistance from the community. We found text messages which showed Russell was dealing in ounces of Class A drugs at a time, usually between £1,000 and £6,000 per deal.

"By examining information on phones of Russell, Thompson, and Critchlow, it was estimated that over a 12 month period, Russell supplied almost 4kg of cocaine to Thompson and Critchlow over the course of a year, which would have a street value of between £316,160 to £395,200. We seized three separate money counting machines, one from Russell’s home address, one from a storage unit we later found was rented by Russell but accessed by the wider crew, and one from Callum Kerry’s home address.

"There is no good reason for them to have had these in their possession and indicates how much cash they were turning over.

"The more we uncovered, the clearer the breadth and scale of the operation became.” 

Kerry acted as Russell’s right hand-man, running his day to-day operation, including when Russell went into hiding in Ireland. He was supported by couriers Leon Lloyd, 41, and Brooklyn Donovan, 24, both of Old Market Avenue, Spilsby. All four made regular journeys to places including Manchester, Leeds, Huddersfield, and Birmingham to collect drugs.

Further examination of phones and social media by cyber experts showed how Russell had bragged about being involved in a police chase after he made off from police with four ounces of drugs and a gun in his car as well as cloning vehicles after finding a message from him saying: “as long as they had all the trackers and sos removed I can chop em up and crush the chases” [sic], and him talking about making his own ammunition.

The data also revealed he and Callum Kerry, 21, of Drummond Road, Skegness planning to “tax” – another word for robbery – one of his own dealers.

The investigation led to the discovery of a storage unit in Skegness, which was revealed to have been rented in the name of Anthony Russell and had a telephone number linked to him.

In January 2023, officers searched the storage unit and found printed registration plates, including ones matching the cloned plates that had been put on one of the stolen vehicles we had already recovered. It also contained a cash counting machine, paperwork lined to Russell, a bag containing metal plates, ammunition, a rifle, white powder used to cut cocaine, a respirator, and a cocaine press.

The data on phones, as well as contraband uncovered during warrants wasn’t enough to help secure convictions. The team also brought in specialist civilian crime scene investigators who examined various scenes and vehicles, and using forensics, linked Russell through fingerprints and DNA to multiple stolen vehicles and a storage locker believed to have been a base for pressing their own cocaine and counting their earnings.

Lloyd and Fowler pled guilty before the trial. Kerry, Thompson, Critchlow and Donovan pled guilty in the first week of the trial. Russell and Blease had nine days of a trial before they changed their plea to guilty, faced with overwhelming evidence.

Charges and sentences:

• Anthony Russell, 31, of Wilford Grove, Skegness, was sentenced to 15 years and 2 months for:
• Conspiracy to supply Class A
• Conspiracy to Supply Class B
• Money Laundering
• Dangerous Driving (involving failing to stop for police)
• Handling stolen goods (4 x stolen / cloned cars)
• Possession of a firearm when prohibited for life
• Possession of ammunition when prohibited for life
• Possession of a mobile phone whilst in prison
• Ross Thompson, 24, of The Causeway, Burgh Le Marsh, was charged with conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine and conspiracy to supply Class B cannabis. He was sentenced to 8 years.
• Andrew Critchlow, 30, of Lumley Avenue, Skegness, conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine; conspiracy to supply Class B cannabis; and converting criminal property. He was sentenced to 7 years and 2 months
• Callum Kerry, 21, of Drummond Road, Skegness, conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine, conspiracy to supply Class B cannabis; converting criminal property; and possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/ gas/ electrical incapacitation device/ thing. He was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months.
• Brooklyn Donovan, 24, of Old Market Avenue, Spilsby, conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine; conspiracy to supply Class B cannabis; and converting criminal property. He was sentenced to 3 years and 11 months.
• Leon Lloyd, 41, of Old Market Avenue, Spilsby, conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine, conspiracy to supply Class B cannabis; and conspiracy to convert criminal property. He was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months.
• Aaron Fowler, 29, of Pickwell Way, Skegness, conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine; conspiracy to supply Class B cannabis; and converting criminal property. He was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months.
• Billy Blease, 27, of Blyton House, Skegness: Count 1: conspiracy to supply Class A cocaine, conspiracy to supply Class B cannabis; and converting criminal property. He was sentenced to 24 months, suspended for 24 months, ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work, and handed a 30 day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR).