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The men have been sentenced to a total of 31 years in jail
Four men have been jailed for a total of thirty-one years for their roles in a drugs supply chain between Liverpool and Cornwall
Police say they brought drugs into Cornwall by car, and posted money back to Liverpool by Royal Mail.
At Truro Crown Court, the two men from Liverpool and two men from Cornwall were sentenced at Truro Crown Court for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs:
Kevin Condliffe, 46 of Carr Lane East, Liverpool, was jailed for nine years and six months.
Richard McLean, 39, of Curtana Crescent, Liverpool, for eight years and six months.
Jonathan Fincham, 52, of Pellor Fields, Helston, for six years and six months.
Kieron Ellis, 44, of Carbis Bay, Penzance, for seven years.
The sentences followed Operation Foxshine, a police investigation into the supply of controlled Class A drugs by a well-established Organised Crime Group operating the County Line ‘Scouse Mick.’
Phone and financial analysis proved that between 1 January 2021 and 14 July 2022 the group were bringing drugs from Liverpool to Cornwall by car and using the Royal Mail to post the cash profits back up the line to associates in Liverpool.
A detailed review identified that the group posted 140 parcels during that time. Based on weights, the parcels were believed to contain more than £560,000 in cash, equating to the sale of around seven kilograms of drugs.
Officers carried out warrants and seizures on a number of occasions during the investigation including in September 2021 when Condliffe and McLean left a carrier bag containing £50,000, or 5,000 deals, of heroin in coffee jars in a pub.
The pair returned a short time later to retrieve the bag, only to find police had already seized it.
Thousands of messages between the four were found on mobile devices discussing the distribution of drugs and movement of cash – these were identified by police despite the men regularly changing phone numbers in order to avoid detection.
On 13 July 2022 Condliffe posted two parcels containing nearly £10,000 in cash to Liverpool. Officers from Devon & Cornwall Police and Merseyside Police awaited confirmation that the parcels had been successfully delivered the following morning before executing 11 warrants simultaneously in Helston, Penzance, Carbis Bay and Liverpool.
The men were all arrested in Cornwall and later charged.
The investigation team, along with Royal Mail, have received an International Digital Investigation Award (IDIA) for their work on the case.
“This was no side-line job”
Detective Inspector Glenn Willcocks, Senior Investigating Officer, said: “We worked closely with the Royal Mail and Merseyside Police to identify the patterns and behaviours being used by this group.
“We were then able to track the volume and frequency of the parcels which enabled us to understand the scale of the group, take action against the offenders and dismantle the drugs line.
“This is an example of how these groups will adapt the ways they work with the times and that’s something that police and other agencies must be alive to.
“This was no side-line job, those sentenced today played pivotal roles in this group and benefitted from the proceeds of crime.”
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