Police have dismantled a drug ring involved in selling heroin mixed with a powerful synthetic opioid, said a court. Two individuals were sentenced for their roles in the organized crime group that distributed a tainted batch of drugs, resulting in 14 overdoses, some of them fatal.
According to Grimsby crown court, the drugs contained Etonitazene, an opioid 1,000 to 1,500 times more potent than morphine. The judge clarified that there was no direct evidence linking the defendants to the deaths caused by the drugs they sold.
Investigators revealed that the dealers ran a 24-hour drug line, the most active one they had encountered, sending around 900 messages daily to approximately 300 users and delivering drugs across the region.
One of the defendants, Owen Barker, 23, and Jack Baker, 20, confessed to drug supply charges. Barker, facing debts, resorted to selling drugs to repay them without implicating others. Baker was caught packaging and weighing drugs.
The court learned that authorities became aware of the situation when multiple drug-related overdoses occurred at a hospital, leading to Barker’s arrest. Subsequent investigations uncovered a significant drug distribution operation involving a large number of messages being sent out daily to potential drug users.
Humberside Police are currently investigating the overdoses, including several deaths, while a coroner awaits toxicology results. The seized drugs, cash, and the defendants’ statements indicated their involvement in the drug trafficking activities.
Both defendants received prison sentences for their roles in the drug distribution network, with Barker sentenced to three years and nine months and Baker to three years in a Young Offenders Institution.
The judge emphasized the potent nature of the drugs trafficked by the defendants, highlighting the risks posed to the public and the severity of their actions in flooding the streets with dangerous substances.
