AN Eastville man who ran a \u201csame-day cannabis delivery service\u201d across Bristol with two other men has been jailed.<\/p>\n
Joseph Wilks, aged 30, of Fountaine Court, and co-defendants Jake Herault-Redman, 26, of St Andrews, and Callum Coen, 22, from Knowle West, used social media and an encrypted messaging app to sell drugs under the name \u2018The Smoke Shack\u2019.<\/p>\n
As well as in-person same-day deliveries to hundreds of people in Bristol, they sent drugs across the country by post.<\/p>\n
The business was busted by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit and Avon & Somerset police, who raided an address in Eastville in June last year.<\/p>\n
A police spokesperson said Wilks assaulted one officer before running out of the back door of the house, but was caught and detained outside.<\/p>\n
Coen and Herault-Redman also ran from the house but were arrested a short distance away.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said: \u201cNumerous weapons including machetes, air rifles, knives and baseball bats were recovered from around entrances to the address and a machete was found on the floor next to where the officer was assaulted.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing his arrest, Wilks said to officers \u2018the only reason I didn\u2019t machete you in the head is because I heard you shout police\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police seized 7kg of cannabis, including \u201cedibles\u201d, and more than \u00a33,800 in cash during the raid.<\/p>\n
A further \u00a313,000 of cryptocurrency was seized from Herault-Redman\u2019s address, along with designer clothes worth more than \u00a33,330.<\/p>\n
Black bin bags found at the Eastville house were found to contain hundreds of brown sandwich bags, each with a postcode and cash or cryptocurrency amounts written on them. The bags were being used to deliver drugs, with cash payments dropped into the bag in exchange.<\/p>\n
All three men pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to supply class B drugs and acquiring criminal property. Wilks also admitted assaulting a police officer.<\/p>\n
At Bristol Crown Court in July, Wilks was jailed for a total of four-and-a-half years, Herault-Redman to three years and three months and Coen was given an 18-month suspended sentence.<\/p>\n
SWROCU Acting Detective Inspector Stuart Cumine said: \u201cWe estimate the group was making in excess of a hundred thousand pounds every month over a significant period of time; they even had the audacity to have \u2018The Smoke Shack\u2019 branded clothing made to promote their illegal trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheer number of discarded brown sandwich bags found demonstrates the scale of their cannabis delivery service to people across the length and breadth of Bristol.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re buying illegal drugs, you\u2019re not only funding organised crime groups, you are ignoring the exploitation involved in their cultivation, production and supply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police are asking people to report drug dealing and other criminal activity by calling 101.<\/p>\n