Crashed drone led police to drugs network

Nine people have been jailed after a failed attempt to smuggle drugs into a prison by drone helped police catch several members of a trafficking network.

The two ringleaders, Daniel Yeboah and Shaun Lau, were described as career criminals who directed accomplices in Nottingham "from the comfort of their cells" at different jails.

Yeboah, 43, arranged for cocaine and deadly fentanyl to be imported, paying a great-grandmother to accept one delivery disguised as cookies at her suburban home.

Lau, 37, employed dealers who sold drugs on the streets of Nottingham, as well as sending drugs and phones into his jail for him to sell to his fellow inmates.

The net closed in after accomplices Hayley Price, 38, and her daughter, Kaci-Leigh Stones, 20, drove from Nottingham to make a delivery to Lau in August 2023.

A security camera caught them retrieving a drone that crashed into a tree as they tried to fly it over the fence of HMP Parc in Bridgend, South Wales.

Police officers who stopped them shortly afterwards recovered cannabis wrapped in cling-film, along with mobile phones, SIM cards and drone parts.

Detectives say messages on their own phones "unravelled" an investigation that connected Price to several dealers including Lau - who she described as "the boss".

A search of Price's home in Sherwood uncovered traces of heroin, cocaine, cannabis and MDMA as well as deal bags and scales.

Det Insp James McDonagh from Nottinghamshire Police said it was a "wholesale control hub" for drug dealers in several areas in and around Nottingham.

McDonagh said Price's own supplier was Yeboah, a convicted Nottingham drug trafficker who was nearing the end of his sentence at HMP Buckley Hall in Rochdale.

"This is a man who, whilst in his cell, was still controlling the drugs market within Nottinghamshire," he said.

"He's arranging importations to addresses within Nottinghamshire. He was boasting about supplying a 'super-heroin' and that was going to be laced with fentanyl".

The police were particularly worried because fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that has cost many thousands of lives in the United States.

Kieran Grant from the Nottingham Recovery Network said it was still rare in the United Kingdom but drug services had been concerned about it for many years.

"We are worried about fentanyl taking over the streets because it's up to 50 times stronger than heroin," he said.

"It could have a massive impact on drug-related deaths in the city and nationally, and the low-quality heroin that's around at the moment, if it's laced with fentanyl, it could be fatal in one dose."

Some of Yeboah's imported drugs were shipped to Hayley Price's 61-year-old mother in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire.

Detectives say Angela Price was paid £250 to accept a parcel of cocaine disguised as cookies from Trinidad and Tobago.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Price was a great-grandmother who prepared supplies of cocaine, heroin, cannabis and fentanyl for wholesalers and dealers.

Lau and Yeboah were both released from custody while the police investigation was progressing and continued their dealing operations outside jail.

They were arrested last March in co-ordinated raids at Yeboah's home in St Anns, Nottingham and a house where Lau was staying at Pinxton, Derbyshire.

The sentencing judge, His Hon Stuart Rafferty KC, said Yeboah and Lau were "established figures of the Nottingham drug scene" and part of a "tidal wave of offending that continues to engulf the country".

He described their introduction of fentanyl as "cynical and sinister", adding that users were now "not only poisoned but confronted by death as well".

The judge added that Yeboah imported drugs from the US and the Far East on a regular basis and arranged at least one shipment of fentanyl that could sell for £1,000 an ounce.

He said the fact that they controlled drug supply chains while they were serving prisoners was "nothing short of a disgrace" and showed how "porous" the prison system had become.

Prosecutor Laura Blackband said it was "shameful" that Yeboah and Lau were "able to operate significant drug trafficking operations from the comfort of their cells".

"The cases of Lau and Yeboah provide a damning reflection of the prison service and private companies who are paid very substantial amounts of money to run them," she said.

"Illicit mobile phones are too readily available to prisoners, the market for illegal drugs booming.

"Defendants such as Lau and Yeboah see incarceration as a lucrative business opportunity."

Lord Timpson, minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending, said: "We are closing in on the criminals who think they can exploit our prisons from the sky.

"Anyone trying to smuggle drugs, weapons or phones into jail using drones should be in no doubt — we will track you down, we will catch you, and you will face the full force of the law."

• Daniel Yeboah, 43, of no fixed abode (formerly St Anns, Nottingham) was sentenced to 20 years for involvement in importing and supply of Class A and Class B drugs, and possession of a communication device inside prison
• Shaun Lau, 37, of Burmese Road, Pinxton, Derbyshire (formerly Nottingham) was sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy to supply of Class A and Class B drugs, conveying articles into prison, possessing a communication device inside prison, and breach of a Serious Crime Prevention Order
• Shiero Marquis, 36, of Oxclose Lane, Nottingham, was sentenced to 11 years for conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs. Marquis denied the first charge and was convicted after a trial
• Hayley Price, 38, of Costock Avenue, Nottingham, was sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs and conveying articles into prison
• Lieren Dawes, 32, of Fraser Road, Carlton, Nottingham, was sentenced to eight and a half years for involvement in the supply of Class A and Class B drugs
• Mohammed Waheed, 36, of Tonge Moor Road, Bolton, Greater Manchester, was sentenced to five years and eight months for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs
• Millee Munroe, 50, of Belvoir Vale Grove, Bingham, Nottinghamshire, was sentenced to fours years after being convicted of conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs
• Angela Price, 61, of Greythorn Drive, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, was sentenced to three and a half years for conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs. Price denied the first charge and was convicted after a trial
• Raheeb Ibrahim, 29, of Redhill Lodge Drive, Nottingham, was sentenced to three years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs
• Kaci-Leigh Stones, 21, of Listowell Crescent, Nottingham, received a suspended sentence of 15 months for conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs and conspiracy to convey articles into prison

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