THE leader of a drugs ring operating from Blackpool has been sentenced to ten years in prison after being found guilty on two counts of conspiracy to supply heroin.
Wayne Garnett, 41, of Condor Grove, Blackpool, appeared at Preston Crown Court on Friday (June 25) after being arrested in November 1997 as part of Lancashire Constabulary's drug-busting Operation Congo.
Garnett's sentence follows years of police surveillance including following two of his associates, Andrew Clarke and John Heard, to Liverpool in 1997 after the pair had met Garnett.
On the return journey Clarke and Heard were found in possession of one kilo of heroin with a street value of £86,000. Clarke was sentenced in 1997 to 3 years and two months in prison and Heard to 21 months.
On January 16, 1997, officers saw Garnett visit Gary Jeffrey of Back Keswick Road, Blackpool. A short time later Jeffrey, who was sentenced to five years imprisonment in May 1997, travelled to Liverpool and was arrested on his return in possession of half a kilo of heroin.
Garnett is currently being held in Preston Prison awaiting a Home Office decision on where he shall serve his sentence.
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