Seven members of an organised crime gang were sentenced at Belfast Crown Court on 19 April 2013, ending Operation Saggital, the PSNI Organised Crime Branch investigation into cannabis and cocaine shipments worth £2.5 million.[1] The investigation began in 2010, and police said the sentencing had dismantled the gang.[1]
In October 2010 police seized £900,000 of cannabis from a lorry and a taxi in the Duncrue Road area of Belfast and arrested two men.[1] Two months later officers stopped three vehicles at Apollo Road and seized 26 kg of herbal cannabis worth about £500,000, arresting three men including 29-year-old Ryan Black, whom police described as the gang’s leader.[1][2] A follow-up search of a Laganview Court flat found cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis resin worth about £1.1 million together with the cannabis, and two more gang members were arrested.[1][2]
Black, a plumber from Carryduff, faced 14 charges including possessing Class A and B drugs with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis.[2] His co-accused James Turley and Mark Mulholland were charged with possessing cannabis with intent to supply after Mulholland moved two bags of cannabis into his Ford Mondeo at a handover in an industrial estate.[2] Turley, a lorry driver paid £2,000 to carry the drugs, told the court he had acted under duress.[2]
