Three Barry men have been jailed for their roles in a major drug dealing network.
Organised crime detectives broke up a gang based in the Ely area of Cardiff, which recruited teenagers and young adults to ferry drugs and cash on e-bikes.
Cardiff Crown Court heard the 'MJ' drug line' - led by ringleader Ricardo Brown - was directly linked to the death of a woman.
In June 2020, one customer - an inexperienced drug user - died 48 hours after she took heroin for the first time. An inquest later ruled her death as 'mixed drug toxicity, including heroin'.
South Wales Police said Brown led an 'extravagant lifestyle' and generated an enormous amount of cash from the MJ line.
Evidence gathered included videos and photos of the gang 'cooking' crack cocaine, weighing drugs and holding large sums of money.
In one photo, three of the men - Brown, Levi Robson and Jaydon Watkins - posed in a rented Lamborghini on social media.
The MJ line was believed to have been running since 2020 - mainly in Cardiff but also in parts of South Wales - until police arrested the gang in December 2024. All nine defendants went onto plead guilty to multiple drugs offences.
Dylan Stranger (25) of Barry acted as Brown's right-hand man. He was sentenced to seven years and nine months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Lewis Adams (27) of Barry supplied wholesale quantities of cocaine and supported the wider supply chain which kept the drug line functioning. He was jailed for four years and five months after pleading guilty to consipracy to supply class A drugs.
Thomas Haysham (25) of Barry was sentenced to five years and ten months after he admitted conspiring with others to be involved in the supply of class B drugs.
Brown (26) of Butetown, the group's ringleader, was sentenced to twelve years and five months after pleading guilty to consipracy to supply drugs.
The other gang members were sentenced as follows
- Sam Hatton (18) of Ely - five years for acting as a street-level dealer and runner. He had left the MJ line to set up his own drug line.
- Ieuan Coombes (21) of Ely - three years and eight months for being involved in distributing drugs beyond Cardiff
- Levi Robson (24) of Ely - three and a half years for managing drug supply and directing runners.
- Jaydon Watkins of Ely - three years for operating a cannabis supply line linked to the group
- Stacey Cassemis (37) of Ely - two year suspended sentence for allowing the group to use her home as base to prepare and cook crack cocaine. Police found a kilogram block of cocaine when they raided her house.
South Wales Police said the "highly organised" gang had clear leadership and defined roles - they were "driven entirely by profit and complete disregard for the harm caused to others".
DCI Tim Jones, the senior investigating officer for Operation Sittella, said: "Ricardo Brown and his accomplices were behind the supply of significant amounts of class A and Class B drugs."
"What makes their offences even worse is their exploitation of children – they didn’t think twice about putting them in danger and at serious risk, for their own greed and profit."
"The sad reality is that the exploitation of young children by drugs gangs is common practice – dealers will identify the most vulnerable in our communities and put them in harm’s way while running things in the background."
"This is happening today, in communities across South Wales, and we all have a responsibility and a moral obligation to look for the signs of exploitation and act on them."
"In doing so, we are putting the dealers behind bars but also rescuing and safeguarding children who for whatever reason have found themselves in the grip of what is a miserable and dangerous existence at the hands of criminals."
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