Twelve drug dealers caught selling heroin and cocaine on the streets of Bath have been jailed for a total of 32 years and eight months, following a long investigation into the supply of Class A drugs in the city.
The prison sentences handed out to 10 men and two women were the result of a lengthy investigation into the supply of Class A drugs in Bath.
All those sentenced were arrested during two days of dawn raids in December last year.
Among those jailed were Munyaradzi Mashilompane, 31, of Perch Close, Wolverhampton and Winston McCaw, 52, of no fixed address.
Mashilompane was jailed for three years and eight months for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and possession of a knife while McCaw was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for supplying Class A drugs and for breaching an earlier suspended sentence.
In addition to those jailed at Bristol Crown Court one man and one woman were also handed prison terms of 18 months suspended for two years.
Chief Inspector Kevin Thatcher said: “Residents of Bath have the right to live in a city free from crime and shouldn’t have to put up with dealers openly selling drugs on their streets.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to make Bath a hostile place for these criminals to operate and to apprehend those who are involved.
“For example, to make it harder for those jailed to continue their offending on release from prison we’ll be asking the courts to impose Criminal Behaviour Orders on them.
“I hope this investigation and the resulting prison sentences send a loud and clear message to anyone involved in drugs that we will not tolerate you and we will come after you.”
He added: “A lot of our success in apprehending drug dealers like these depends on the intelligence provided to us.
“We always listen to the concerns of our communities but it can take us some time to develop the intelligence we receive and people shouldn’t assume that because they don’t see immediate results, that it isn’t being acted upon.”
If you have information about any suspected criminal or suspicious activity in your area, call Avon and Somerset Police on 101 or report it online at www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/contact-us.
If you don’t want to speak to the police directly, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, it is completely anonymous and you could earn yourself a cash reward.
