Street level dealers locked up in huge sweep

More than 60 street level drug dealers from across Bristol have been locked up for a total of 181 years in one of the largest police operations of its kind in the city.

Sentences handed out at Bristol Crown Court on Friday marked the end of a massive sweep where undercover officers caught dealers on camera before a series of dawn raids in November last year.

The investigation – known as Operation Tibia in court – was triggered by a letter from community leaders in St Paul’s alerting police of anti-social behaviour, drug dealing and drug taking on their doorsteps.

A total of 66 dealers aged between 17 and 53 were sentenced for supplying mostly Class A drugs crack cocaine and heroin. More than 90 offenders had been identified in the operation.

Police involved with the case and the judge presiding over proceedings praised the crackdown on what was described as a “cancer on the community”.

But some questions have been raised about the success of the operation which is said will lead to the dealers replaced by a new generation ready to take their place.

Ollie Cosgrove, temporary chief inspector who led the operation, insisted outside court that the operation was part of a long-term plan for the force to help get street level drug dealers out of a life of crime.

“Certainly there’s always that danger that when you send a lot of drug dealers to prison there’s a lot of people who are going to want to fill that void,” Cosgrove said.

“But we are doing a lot of work to make sure that void is not filled and we have a lot of policing responses and tactics that we use. We have also had a lot of public engagement and we’ve gained a lot of confidence and trust in the community.”

He said the operation had taken a huge investment and a number of man hours, and was the largest of its kind the force had seen in a generation.

He added: “We did all we could to find the people who have been making your lives a misery, lock them up and now we are going to send these people to prison, so it’s really satisfying.”

After concluding his sentencing, Judge Martin Picton said: “Community groups complained to the police about what they rightly saw as a cancer in their community and they requested that the police act so as to reclaim the streets for the law abiding members of the St Paul’s and Easton communities.

“The fact police took action is to be applauded and is certainly something welcomed by the vast majority of the people living in these areas.”

Dealers who have been given jail terms:

• Peter Webster, 35, of Wood Street, Easton – 1 year 4 months
• Ruben Ennis, 40, of Mary Carpenter Place, St Paul’s – 2 years 
• Naik Singh, 34, of Mary Carpenter Place, St Werburgh’s – 3 years 8 months, CBO (criminal behaviour order preventing offender from going to certain area once released) 5 Years
• Warren Royal, 31, Jamaica Street, Kingsdown – 5 years 7 months, CBO 5 years
• Khalid Nur, 18, of Croydon Street, Easton – 2 Years
• Adrian Liburd, 45, of Portland Street, Staple Hill – 3 years, CBO 5 years
• Luke Wauchope, 25, of Badminton Road, St Paul’s –4 Years 4 months, CBO 5 years
• Michael Roberts, 36, of Gwyn Street, St Paul’s – 4 years, CBO 5 years
• Tyrone Davis, 21, of no fixed abode – 3 years, CBO 5 years
• Romario Archer, 20, of Mary Carpenter Place, St Werburgh’s – 1 year 11 months
• Ira Tyler, 40, of Mina Road, St Werburgh’s – 3 years 8 months , CBO 5 years
• Nicholas McClean, 26, of Chaplin Road, Easton – 2 years 8 months
• Ruth Dorrance, 50, of Stokeleigh Walk, Sea Mills – 3 years 4 months, CBO 5 years
• Bernet Cochrane, 24, of Cherrytree Crescent, Fishponds – 3 years 4 months
• Fuyad Maygag, 21, of Whitehall Road, Redfield – 1 year 4months
• Alex Horgan, 36 – 2 years
• Cofi Walters, 23, of Chisbury Street, Eastville – 5 years and 2 months, 5 year CBO
• Lee Barclay, 39, of no fixed abode – 3 years
• Gemma Bennie, 25, Mary Carpenter Place, St Werburgh’s – 1 year 8 months
• Odeen Tinling, 22, of Halston Drive, St Paul’s – 2 years 8 months
• Jerhyse Jones, 23, of Wilder Street, St Paul’s – 3 years 4 months, 5 year CBO
• Kes Leverett,  28, of City Road, St Paul’s – 1 year 4 months
• Carlton Green, 53, of no fixed abode – 2 years
• Rimnele Downer, 23, of Brangwyn Grove, Lockleaze – 1 year 8 months
• Rikky Pascoe, 25, of High Street, Easton – 2 Years 4 months
• Sharmake Haybe, 23, of Payne Drive, Easton – 4 years, 5 year CBO
• Steven Fudge, 47, of Southlands, Bath – 3 years
• Montel Edwards, 19, of Essery Road, Easton – 2 years 4 months
• Geele Egal, 19, of St Mark’s Road, Easton – 1 year 8 months
• Montel Holver, 19, of Rousham Road, Eastville – 3 years, CBO 5 years
• Julio Dyer, 31, of Coronation Road, Warmley – 6 years, CBO 5 years
• Darrell Thomas, 40, of Goodhind Street, Easton – 1 Year 4 Months
• Dauud Osman, 20, of no fixed abode – 3 years 4 months, CBO 5 years
• Michael Dogan, 26, of No fixed abode – 5 years 7 months
• Morgan Morrison, 44, of no fixed abode – 3 years
• Andrew Excell, 19, of Champion Square, St Philip’s – 4 years 10 months, CBO 5 years
• Emerson Francis, 40, of Clifton Vale, Hotwells – 4 years 8 months, CBO 5 years
• Ronald Leigh, 19, of Lanaway Road, Fishponds – 2 years 8 months, CBO 5 years
• Jibril Mohammed, 22, of Brighton Street, St Paul’s – 2 Years 8 months
• Aldis Aleksejevs, 35, of Brigstocke Road, St Paul’s – 1 Year 8 Months
• Christopher Benjamin, 44, of Tudor Road, Easton – 2 Years 8 months
• Matthew McCue, 35, of Cromwell Road, St Andrew’s – 3 Years
• Irie Lewis, 20, of Constable Road, Lockleaze – 4 years, CBO 5 years
• Trevor Campbell, 25, of Sussex Place, St Werburgh’s – 4 years 4 months, CBO 5 years
• Lee Harris, 24, of Belmont Street, Easton – 3 years 8 months
• Jake Worster, 23, of Gwyn Street, St Paul’s – 4 years 2 months
• Sak Abdi, 19, of Belmont Street, Easton – 2 years 8 months
• Andrew Jones, 50, of Mina Road, St Werburgh’s – 2 years 4 months
• Wahib Abdi, 44, of No Fixed Abode – 2 years 4 months
• Hanad Osman, 21, of Vining Walk, Easton – 1 year 9 months
• Jordan Parker, 20, of Luckwell Road, Ashton – 1 year 4 months
• Muayadin Mohamed, 27, of St John’s Lane, Bedminster – 2 years 8 months
• Wayne Jones, 42, of Badminton Road, St Paul’s – 4 months
• Stephen Young, 55, of Lyppiatt Road, Redfield – 7 years 6 months
• Devon Sawyers, 51, of Morton Street, Lawrence Hill – 16 months
• Yusef Abakar, 19, Easton Road, Easton – 6 months

Four offenders cannot be named due to their age:

• A 17-year-old, of St Philip’s – 8 Months
• A 17-year-old, of St Paul’s – 18 Months (Young Offenders Institute)
• A 15-year-old, of Whitehall – 12 Months
• A 17-year-old, of Easton – 2 years

Three men aged 18, 18 and 19, from Bristol, who also cannot be named for legal reasons were jailed for 2 years and 4 months, 3 years and 3 years respectively.

One offender, not pictured, was given a suspended sentence:

• Elton Taylor,36, of Sunny Hill, Sea Mills – 2 years suspended 180 hours unpaid work

Read more: Behind the scenes of a major drugs bust