A gang has been jailed after police found cocaine worth £2.4m in the boot of a woman’s car in a sleepy seaside resort.
The drugs, weighing 30kg (70lbs), were found in the back of 47-year-old Rachael Beer’s vehicle.
A safe containing £34,000 and a cash counting machine were found by police at her home.
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The drugs bust happened in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
Further enquiries identified Devon Feltham, 32, Courtney Feltham, 24, Thomas Beasley, 35, Harry Dyer, 32, and Joel Powis, 36.
The group had been communicating through an encrypted messaging app between September 2023 and January 2024.
The gang had collected and redistributed an estimated 172kg (380Ibs) of cocaine before they were caught.
They all admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and, at Taunton Crown Court, were sentenced to between six and 14 years in prison.
Judge Paul Cook said the operation was on an industrial scale, involving eye-watering quantities of drugs as reported by Need To Know.
After the sentencing, Avon and Somerset Police Det Ch Insp Ben Lavender, head of the serious and organised crime, said: “This investigation unravelled a multimillion-pound drugs operation supplying cocaine across the South West.
“The supply of drugs like cocaine causes upset and misery in our communities and has associated consequences in terms of further offences being committed to fund addictions.
“Stopping the supply of these harmful substances is a priority for us, and while offenders may think they’re operating under the radar, operations like this prove they have no hiding place, with the prospect of substantial prison sentences awaiting them.”
Beer, of Beach Road in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, was handed nine years and seven months imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and possession of criminal property, namely cash.
Beasley, of Apple Tree Close in Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset, was jailed for 14 years and seven months after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine and being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
Devon Feltham, of Birch Grove in Chard, Somerset, was jailed for 12 years after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine, while Courtney Feltham, 24, of the same address, was jailed for 10 years after admitting the same offence.
Powis, of Brockley Crescent, Weston-super-Mare, was jailed for six years and seven months after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Harry Dyer of Cedern Avenue, Weston-super-Mare, was jailed for nine years and four months after admitting two counts of being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession with intent to supply ketamine.
