A trio of drug dealers have been jailed for a total of 26-and-half-years after they conspired to sell tens of thousands of pounds worth of drugs.

Owen Manahan, Hafiz Sule and Troy Colbert were sentenced to prison for their part in the conspiracy to supply class A drugs, namely cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin, after a long running police operation by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) dating back to 2017.

The first arrest took place on Thursday, 7 December, 2017, when Manahan was arrested after his car was stopped on the A38 by a traffic officer at 8.45pm.

Manahan had driven to Birmingham and was on the way back to Derby when the car eventually pulled over for the officer after initially failing to stop. The officer immediately smelt a strong smell of cannabis and called for support to search the vehicle.

Inside the vehicle was found £940 in £20 notes and cannabis with an estimated street value of around £800.

The second arrest took place on Wednesday, 17 January, 2018 when Hafiz Sule was arrested after his car, a Seat Leon, was stopped in Uttoxeter Old Road, Derby. Inside the car an amount of cocaine was found in various bags and a search of his home was ordered.

At his home address in James Close, Derby, a large quantity of drugs were found, including crack cocaine, cocaine and diamorphine.

The cocaine found in the car and the house in James Close were of very high purity, and were given a street value up to £278,000.

A number of mobile phones were seized in the car which showed drug dealing activity, including images and videos of drugs and drug dealing paraphernalia. A Blackberry also seized was found to have encryption software in an effort to hide the activity taking place on the device.

Over the intervening months further investigations were carried out into the offences of Sule and Manahan – when a significant development occurred in May.

On Tuesday, 22 May, a criminal named Ivan Graham was arrested outside an address on Wakami Crescent, Derby, and a search of the address discovered £350,000 in cash, firearms including a sub machine gun, and drugs with a street value of more than £1m pounds.

Drugs packaging found at the address showed that over the two years Graham had been in the property he had moved £35m worth of drugs into the market. Graham pleaded guilty to seven charges including possession with intent to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis and was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Forensic work carried out on the cash seized at Graham’s address found the fingerprints of Manahan and another man, Troy Colbert.

Following the arrest of Ivan Graham - Manahan, Sule and Colbert were all arrested again at their homes on Tuesday, 4 September 2018.

Colbert was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply controlled drugs and at his home in Elm Park Court, Derby, quantities of drugs and cash were found, along with two mobile phones.

Sule was arrested on the same charge at his home in James Close, Derby, and inside the property were found a small set of digital scales and drug dealing paraphernalia.

Manahan was also arrested on the same charge and found in possession of £1,300 in cash.

Manahan, aged 36, of Buxton Road, Derby, was sentenced to 11 years.

Sule, aged 34, of James Close, Derby, was sentenced to 7-and-a-half years.

Colbert, aged 32, of Elmpark Court, Derby, failed to attend court and was sentenced in his absence to 8 years in prison.  

Detective Inspector Richard Monk, who led the investigation into the trio, said: “Today’s sentencing is the culmination of more than three years hard work to disrupt and dismantle a high-level drugs network.

“The trio were benefitting to the tune of thousands of pounds as they pedalled potentially lethal drugs that cause untold misery in our communities.

“My colleagues and I are absolutely committed to bringing the likes of Manahan, Sule and Colbert to justice and ensure that they do not profit from their crimes.

“And it is the communities that are affected by this that I would like to speak to directly as we rely on the public being aware of what is going on in their local area and helping provide information that can make their communities safer.

“If you are concerned about activity in your area then you can contact Derbyshire police in confidence on 101, via the force’s social media channels or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”