Trio jailed over £3m cocaine-running plot

(From left) Tekla Selassie, Adil Riaz and Tobias Slender were investigated under Operation Venetic

Three men have been jailed for their part in running drugs and cash between London, the Midlands and west England.

Tekla Selassie, 20, Adil Riaz, 31, and Tobias Slender, 44, were investigated under Operation Venetic - a UK-wide crackdown on organised crime.

The three men helped Bath-based drug dealer Romaine Hyman run four different drug rings in the west.

Police said the network supplied at least £3m worth of cocaine, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Hyman, 31, who trafficked cocaine stamped with the word "Fendi", was jailed at the court in February for 26 years after being convicted of 18 offences related to the operation.

Romaine Hyman was jailed for 26 years for setting up a drug running business to the south west

At the latest hearing at the same court Riaz, 31, of Grimesthorpe, Sheffield was sentenced to 24 years in prison after admitting a raft of offences including supplying 160kgs of cocaine from his home city to Hyman, and to launder £2.3m in cash in June 2020.

As well as the offences linked to Hyman, Riaz was also sentenced for other offences including robbery on 14 September 2020 and for a cache of weapons found at an address connected to him.

South Yorkshire Police found a fully automatic AR-15 assault rifle, silencers, numerous rounds of ammunition, as well as three improvised grenades.

Neighbours were forced to evacuate their properties while the army dealt with the weapons.

Selassie, of Eastfield Avenue, Bath, was sentenced to three years at a young offenders institution for acting as "assistant" to Hyman - helping him collect and deliver drugs around Bath and Bristol.

'Fendi' cocaine seized after Romaine Hyman's arrest

The court heard he was being "groomed" by Hyman who was "in effect training" him to supply illegal drugs.

Officers from South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) had watched Hyman carry three bags filled with £540,000 in cash to a car in Bath and collect another 7kg of cocaine, the court heard.

Selassie would also act as lookout for Hyman, and was observed by investigators cycling around Bath to check out people in his boss's vicinity.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to launder money, possession of criminal property, being concerned in the supply of cannabis and possession of cannabis.

The court heard Selassie was just 17 when he got involved with Hyman, between April and May 2020.

One of the grenades found at Riaz' house

Slender, of Dale Walk, Cheltenham, was sentenced to five years in jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply 2kg of cocaine to Hyman on three separate occasions, between April and May 2020.

Three other men have previously been sentenced for their role in Hyman's operation.

Jevaughn Rose, from Nottingham, and Sheikh Maruf Rouf, of no fixed address, were both jailed for three years each for laundering the cash he made and possession of criminal property.

Leon Reid, a sprinter who represented Ireland in the Olympics, and of Longmead Terrace, Bath, was given a 21 month sentence suspended for 18 months and 220 hours of unpaid work, for allowing his flat to be used by Hyman to produce cocaine in exchange for around £500 per month.

Operation Venetic

Operation Venetic was launched after the UK's National Crime Agency and other international agencies infiltrated EncroChat, an encrypted messaging service tailed specifically for criminals, in July 2020.

The bust has led to 746 arrests and £54m in criminal cash seized in the UK alone and is thought to be the UK's largest-ever law enforcement operations.

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Det Ch Insp Charlotte Tucker, from SWROCU, said: "This investigation has dismantled an organised crime network that was making millions of pounds bringing class A drugs into and out of the south west.

"To date, seven people have been sentenced for their roles, with the central figure, Romaine Hyman, currently serving 26 years.

"He had clear ambitions to grow his empire and the messages he exchanged with Selassie, who was just 17 at the time, showed Hyman's clear intention to distance himself from the day to day risky activity, training Selassie up to do that work for him.

"The quantities of drugs and cash involved, together with the weapons seized, show the risks this group posed to our communities."

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