{"id":196001,"date":"2025-06-19T02:40:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T02:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196001\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T02:40:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T02:40:11","slug":"last-gang-member-locked-up-for-flooding-devon-with-cannabis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196001\/","title":{"rendered":"Last gang member locked up for flooding Devon with cannabis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cannabis was brought into the county from Merseyside and Birmingham<\/p>\n

Oliver Astley<\/strong> Content editor<\/p>\n

17:23, 18 Jun 2025Updated 17:24, 18 Jun 2025<\/p>\n

\"GavinDrug dealer Gavin Sohal(Image: ROCU)<\/p>\n

The final member of a gang that brought huge quantities of cannabis to Devon has been locked up.<\/p>\n

Gavin Sohal, 30, from Erdington, in Birmingham, was part of a conspiracy to bring kilos of cannabis to Torquay<\/a> from large-scale dope farms in Merseyside and Birmingham.<\/p>\n

The multi-million-pound operation fell apart when police found that drugs and cash were being transported between Torquay and Birmingham in a taxi.<\/p>\n

On Friday, June 6, at Birmingham Crown Court, Sohal pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis between September and November 2021. He will be sentenced on August 1, 2025.<\/p>\n

He will be the 14th person to be sentenced for the gang’s activities. The full dramatic story of how the conspiracy unravelled can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Detective Chief Inspector Adam Smith from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: \u201cThanks to the thorough investigation carried out by the ROCU Sohal had no option but to plead guilty to his role in the conspiracy to flood Devon with cannabis.<\/p>\n

“The effect of drugs on society is well documented and we are committed to protecting our local communities from the harm and violence associated with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the gang were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court between September 10 and September 12, 2024:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jamie Hadley<\/strong> aged 32 of Kingstanding Road, Birmingham, principal organiser with overall control pleaded guilty to 3 counts of conspiracy to supply cannabis, production of cannabis and possession of criminal property (\u00a315,000 cash) at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced to a total of 11 years and 9 months<\/strong> imprisonment.<\/li>\n
  2. Christopher Madden<\/strong> aged 30 of Waterlily Close, Cannock, second in command to Hadley, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment, suspended for 18 months<\/strong> , plus a rehabilitation order and unpaid work requirement.<\/li>\n
  3. Toi Banh<\/strong> aged 37 of Masshouse Plaza, Birmingham, money laundering organiser for Hadley, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of conspiracy to supply cannabis and transferring criminal property (monies) at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced to 8 years and 2 months<\/strong> imprisonment.<\/li>\n
  4. Collum Keyes<\/strong> aged 37 of Knightwick Crescent, Birmingham, cannabis courier, was found guilty of conspiracy to produce cannabis following a trial earlier this year. He was sentenced to 5 years<\/strong> imprisonment.<\/li>\n
  5. Daniel Beattie<\/strong> aged 24 of Morcroft Road, Liverpool, cocaine courier, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine following a trial earlier this year. He was sentenced to 4 years<\/strong> imprisonment.<\/li>\n
  6. Lee Bailey<\/strong> aged 51 of Meadway, Birmingham, cannabis courier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 18 months<\/strong> , plus a mental health treatment order and an unpaid work requirement.<\/li>\n
  7. An Toung Phan<\/strong> aged 29 of no fixed address, cannabis courier, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cannabis following trial. He was sentenced to 12 months<\/strong> imprisonment and forfeiture of \u00a3820.<\/li>\n
  8. Joshua Fullerton<\/strong> aged 28 of Lincombe Drive, Torquay, organiser and controller of class B drugs and money laundering criminality in the Torquay area, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis at an earlier hearing and was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine following a trial earlier this year. He was sentenced to a total of 7 years and 7 months<\/strong> imprisonment.<\/li>\n
  9. Dean Isaac<\/strong> aged 35 of Lymington Road, Torquay, cannabis distributor in Torquay, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months<\/strong> imprisonment.<\/li>\n
  10. Craig Bentick<\/strong> aged 26 of Fonthill Road, Kirkdale, Liverpool, cannabis distributor in Torquay pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment, suspended for 18 months<\/strong> , plus a rehabilitation order and unpaid work requirement.<\/li>\n
  11. Joshua Turner<\/strong> aged 30 of Hurlingham Road, Birmingham, courier between Birmingham and Torquay, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced to a 12 month community order<\/strong> , with a rehabilitation order and unpaid work requirement.<\/li>\n
  12. Rizwan Khan<\/strong> aged 43 of Watney Grove, Birmingham, courier between Birmingham and Torquay, pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property (monies) at an earlier hearing and will be sentenced on 24 September 2024.<\/li>\n
  13. Patrik Quarless<\/strong> aged 24 of Graburn Road, Formby, was also part of the conspiracy. Quarless pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to nine years and eight months<\/strong> in prison.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cannabis was brought into the county from Merseyside and Birmingham Oliver Astley Content editor 17:23, 18 Jun 2025Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,30,188,393,4884,77611,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-torquay","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114707721528824416","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}