The head of an organised crime group who controlled the production, supply and importation of hundreds of kilos of amphetamine and cannabis from a warehouse in Darwen has been jailed.

Ex-Royal Marine, Sam Stone, alongside his partner in crime, Zac Deaffern, was involved in the supply and production of more than 200kg of amphetamine and 400kg of cannabis, with the pair using accomplices John Rowe, Phillip Alderson, Dexter Ryan and Joshua Main to help import the cannabis into the UK from Italy and other areas of Europe.

Stone used his business, Movers, as a front for the drug operation, with Alderson becoming involved while working for the company and dating Stone’s daughter.

The operation, which resulted in 23 people being charged in June 2021, was conducted from Hollins Grove Mill in Darwen, with the gang members being foiled after police cracked the encrochat network they were using, and border force officials intercepted around 100kg of cannabis bound for the UK from Italy.

Other parcels of the class B drug were stopped in Coventry, East Midlands and Manchester Airport.

A consignment of 80kg of cannabis bound for Darwen was seized by border control in Dover in March 2021, 10kg was found in the mill in Darwen, while another package was intercepted at East Midlands Airport, with a total of 400kg of cannabis seized across the entire police operation.

Some of the cannabis, if sold at wholesale price would have been worth around £1.7 million.

The six men appeared at Preston Crown Court on Thursday (February 16), with Stone being jailed for nine and a half years.

The court heard how between January 2020 and March 2021 Stone, Deaffern, Alderson, Rowe, Main and Ryan were caught on CCTV at the mill on several occasions, loading bags in and out of trucks.

Messages found on their phones also alluded to the supply of drugs, as police investigated the crime racket under the guise of Operations Angler and Wimbledon.

When Stone and Deaffern’s homes were searched, police found more than £15,000 in cash and prohibited weapons, including a 100 year old Belgian revolver in Deaffern’s possession.

Cutting agents were also found at the Darwen mill, including caffeine tablets and methanol which were used in the production of amphetamine.

Stone, 60, of Lees Court, Darwen, has three convictions for eight offences. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply amphetamine and cannabis, as well as conspiring to import cannabis and possession of a prohibited weapon. He was jailed for nine and a half years.

Ryan, 60, of Avon Close, Blackburn, has 13 convictions for 22 offences. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to import and supply cannabis on the basis that he persuaded himself that the cannabis he was importing was legal. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

Alderson, 36, of Bolton Road, Darwen, has five convictions for eight offences. He pleaded to conspiring to supply amphetamine and cannabis. He was sentenced to three years.

Main, 27, of Ivinson Road, Darwen, has four convictions for five offences. He delivered 2kg of cocaine to London and pleaded to conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis. He received four and a half years in prison.

Rowe, 55, of Lynthorpe Road, Blackburn, has six convictions for eight offences. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cannabis and conspiring to import cannabis. He was jailed for three years and nine months.

Deaffern, 32, of Turncroft Road, Darwen, has nine convictions for 28 offences. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply amphetamine and cannabis and conspiring to import cannabis. He will be sentenced tomorrow.

Several other members of the OCG have yet to be dealt with.

In July last year, Nicholas Wilson, 40, of Wood Street, St Annes, and Phillip Peters, 41, of Edward Tyler Road, London, and Lee Booth of Holcombe Road, Greenmount, were sentenced for their involvement in the conspiracy.  

The mugshots for all the other defendants have been requested from the police.