Two men jailed for vast heroin and cocaine drugs conspiracy
Two Merseyside men have been jailed for conspiring to supply vast amounts of heroin and cocaine between January and March this year.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Anthony Carroll, 39 of Deepfield Drive, Huyton and Anthony Sutherland, 48, of Moorcroft Road, Huyton were involved in the supply of drugs on a commercial scale. The total street value of drugs linked to them, and recovered from various addresses in Merseyside, is £7.6 million.
The two men were arrested after surveillance showed them involved in the drop off of boxes of heroin at a house in Dickens Road, St Helens, in the early hours of 1 March 2022.
Heroin and cocaine were also found at Sutherland’s home in Huyton and large quantities were also found at an address in Lordens Road, Liverpool, linked to Carroll.
The CPS said that Carroll was the organiser in an organised crime gang involved in the supply of heroin and cocaine. He arranged the collection and transportation of the drugs throughout the UK.
Sutherland was a trusted courier and had a significant role within the organisation. In his communications he displays a management function, housing the drugs, arranging collections and deliveries, obtaining samples of the drugs, and taking them for testing.
The men were arrested shortly after the surveillance operation on 1 March. They both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine in March 2022. On 17 November 2022 at Liverpool Crown Court, Carroll was jailed for 13 years and 6 months and Sutherland was jailed for 10 years and 4 months.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Adam Till of CPS Mersey Cheshire’s Complex Casework Unit, said: “Both of these men were heavily involved in a multi-million pounds drugs conspiracy.
“Carroll was the ‘organiser’ and tried to remove himself from the drugs by directing Sutherland to perform several key functions. They were in this to make money and travelled throughout the UK to source drugs and supply them.
“But the career of a drug dealer is a notoriously short one – the authorities caught up with these two men and their involvement in the dark and dangerous world Class A drugs came to an end.
“The CPS worked closely with Merseyside Police and the National Crime Agency to bring these two men to justice and they are now behind bars.”