Clock tower at farm near Sittingbourne where chemical cutting agents were found

Members of illegal drugs business jailed for total of 24 years

A remote farm in a village near Sittingbourne has been exposed as the regional hub and distribution centre of large quantities of cutting agents used to bulk out cocaine for supply across the south east.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how a clock tower at a farm in Bredgar belonging to defendant Ty Traton Ripley was used to store barrels full of chemical cutting agents for use in the supply of illegal drugs.

Four members of the trafficking chain behind the drugs business were jailed for a total of 24 years this week following a complex three-year investigation.

Chemicals used to bulk out small quantities of pure drugs were supplied to farm owner Ripley –who acted as a regional distributer –by Omar Sadique, 29, owner of OA Supplies Ltd in Sheffield, which distributes chemical cutting agents on a national scale.

Sadique was contacted by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency in 2009 reminding him of his responsibility to ensure chemicals he provided were not for the illicit drugs trade.

The court heard how regional distributer Ripley, 40, of Swanton Street, Bredgar near Sittingbourne, supplied dealers Raymond Heather and his partner Tracey McCarthy with cutting agent benzocaine.

The four defendants were among nine arrested by detectives as part of the investigation between December 2009 and November 2010.

Sadique, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was convicted of assisting in the supply of class A and B drugs and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Ripley was convicted of assisting in the supply of class A and B drugs and sentenced to six-and-a-half years imprisonment. He was also found guilty of possession with intent to supply a class C drug and sentenced to 12 months to run concurrently.

Heather, 52, from Lambeth, London, was convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine and sentenced to six years imprisonment.

McCarthy, 50, from Rotherhithe, London, was convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine and sentenced to three-and-a-half years behind bars.

On sentencing Judge Jeremy Gold QC called the proliferation of drugs a “cancer in our society”.

Assistant Chief Constable Gary Beautridge, head of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said it had been a particularly complex and time consuming investigation.

“The defendants worked as a highly organised criminal group controlled by Sadique,” he said.

“He may have been the one in charge but each of these defendants had a part to play in the supply of Class A drugs in this country through varied, significant and organised roles.

“During our investigations, a clear picture emerged of a chain leading from the supply of cutting agents to the bulking out of high purity drugs and then on to the supply of controlled drugs themselves.

“The Serious Crime Directorate is here to tackle exactly this type of organised, criminal activity and I am satisfied that, having successfully dismantled this supply chain, those responsible are now behind bars for a substantial amount of time.”

Five other defendants involved in the trial were found not guilty.