Cocaine dealers jailed for cross-border operation

Hamse Mohamod (left) and Ilyas Osoble received the two longest sentences

Four men have been jailed for running a drug-dealing operation between Bristol and south Wales.

The men, aged between 32 and 50, were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court for supplying cocaine with an estimated street value of up to £600,000.

David Griffiths, 50, and Hamse Mohamod, 37, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply the drug.

Ilyas Osoble, 39, and Faysal Hussein-Abdalla, 32, were found guilty of the same offence following a trial.

Osoble received the longest sentence of eight years, with Mohamod given six years and nine months.

Griffiths was jailed for five years and 10 months and Hussein-Abdalla received four-and-a-half years.

Police witnessed David Griffiths (right) handing Faysal Hussein-Abdalla drugs after following him to Newport from Bristol

Avon and Somerset Police seized the class A drug after officers saw Mohamod and Osoble with taxi driver Hussein-Abdalla in Easton, Bristol, on 18 March.

They followed Hussein-Abdalla as he drove to Newport, south Wales, where Griffiths handed him half a dozen 1kg bags filled with cocaine.

Hussein-Abdalla was arrested while returning to the West Country on the M4 and detectives found text messages and phone calls made by Osoble and Mohamod following the arrest.

Det Con Benjamin Rix said he was pleased with the "substantial" prison sentences.

"Cocaine and other illegal substances cause misery to communities and we will continue to do all that we can do to disrupt criminal activity around the supply of such drugs," he added.