Anthony and Brian Siner ran the county lines operation which ran from Liverpool down to the south coast
13:32, 18 Dec 2025Updated 07:43, 20 Dec 2025
Anthony and Brian Siner controlled the sophisticated ‘Scouse Dave’ drug line (Image: Hampshire Constabulary)
The gangster Siner brothers who supplied drugs under the graft name “Scouse Dave” have been ordered to pay back millions of their criminal profits. Anthony and Brian Siner and their two lieutenants, Adam Hughes and Gary Cranney, have been ordered to pay back £4m as part of a Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation order.
The two brothers ran the Siner crime group, marketing heroin and crack cocaine under the “Scouse Dave” county lines drug supply network. The Liverpool brothers supplied their illicit product around the Hampshire and Plymouth areas using a series of couriers and street dealers.
An investigation between Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and Merseyside Police found the gang supplied around 35kg of crack and heroin in Gosport and Plymouth between January 1, 2022 and March 28 of the following year.
Anthony oversaw the running and supply through Gosport, while Brian controlled the line operating in Plymouth from his prison cell, where he was coming to the end of a 14-year sentence for previous drug supply offences.
Couriers transported drugs and cash between the south coast and Liverpool. Police were able to establish couriers working for the gang would either bring drugs down to Gosport and Plymouth in bulk, or conduct cash collection trips whereby proceeds of drugs sales were collected from gang members and then transported back up to Liverpool.
Following a number of arrests, the police noticed a pause in activity and put out a message to drug users that the county line operation was being run by the gang. Seventeen people were arrested and jailed as part of the investigation, with prison sentences totalling over 90 years.
Anthony Siner, aged 38, of Monterey Road, Old Swan pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was jailed for 17 years and 7 months. His brother Brian, 42 and of Clint Way in Edge Hill, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was jailed for 15 years and 9 months.
Mobile phone linked to the gang(Image: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police)
The pair have since been made subject to serious crime prevention orders which impose a number of restrictions on their movement and freedom when they leave prison. They have both been barred from owning more than two mobile phones, and more than one SIM card, computer and landline phone.
They are restricted from carrying more than £500 in cash on their person, and have been banned from entering Fareham, Gosport and Plymouth. Anthony’s order also carries further restrictions – he must notify police of any vehicle he owns, possesses or even gets in as a passenger.
The Siners and their two “operational managers” also have to pay back huge sums of money obtained through their criminal activities. Specifically, Anthony must pay back £1.1m, Brian £535,000, Hughes £1m, and Cranney £1.3m. The Siners have only paid back a nominal £1 each. But any assets they own or accrue in future will be seized until the benefit figure is paid off.
Hughes, 39 and of Speedwell Lane in Sussex, was jailed for eight years and six months, while 41-year-old Cranney, of Eldonian Way in Vauxhall, was sentenced to seven years.
Blank firing handgun linked to the gang(Image: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police)
The investigation into the crime group was brought to an end last week after the final member of the gang was jailed. The gang’s drug supply was described as “little packets of human misery” by one crown court judge.
Chief Inspector Marcus Kennedy, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary district commander for Fareham and Gosport, said: “County lines gangs like the Siner organised crime group inflict misery on communities, peddling drugs, preying on the vulnerable, and engaging in serious violence and anti-social behaviour.
“The police work into this criminal network ensured the problem was eradicated from the roots up, taking out key players and ultimately the two heads of the OCG – the Siner brothers. As well as convicting and jailing gang members, a number of them have been ordered to pay back millions in their ill-gotten gains. This will hang over their head indefinitely, and any assets they accrue in the future will be seized from them in order to pay this back.
“In addition, we have also successfully secured serious crime prevention orders to enforce further prohibitions on the Siners when they are released from prison to prevent further criminality.”
Detective Sergeant Peter Sloan from Merseyside Police added: “This operation has dismantled an organised crime group that caused significant harm across parts of the UK, including Liverpool, Gosport and Plymouth.”