Cryptocurrency: 11 members of £5m drugs gang jailed

Amir Khan was jailed for more than 20 years

Eleven members of a drugs gang have been jailed for a multi-million pound cocaine and money laundering operation.

Police estimated they sold more than 40kg of cocaine with a street value of about £4.6m.

Gang leaders Amir Khan, 30, and Joshua Billingham, 26, had family and friends launder the profits while they were in prison by using the Coinbase crypto exchange.

A judge told Khan on Thursday his criminality was "truly staggering".

Joshua Billingham was sentenced to 14 years and eight months

Khan, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to 20 years and seven months at Cardiff Crown Court for offences including conspiracy to supply drugs including cocaine, Ecstasy and ketamine, and conspiracy to convert criminal property.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins told Khan on Thursday his criminality was "truly staggering".

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He said by converting the profits into cryptocurrency the money could be impossible to recover.

Billingham, also of no fixed abode, was sentenced to 14 years and eight months.

Joshua Collins was given a sentence of seven years and eight months

Joshua Collins, 26, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to seven years and eight months for conspiracy to supply drugs and conspiracy to convert criminal property.

Billingham's partner, Stacey Challenger, 29, from Caerphilly, was sentenced to 12 months for her role in laundering more than £300,000 and conspiring to launder money using cryptocurrency.

Stacey Challenger was sentenced to 12 months for her role in laundering more than £300,000

Judge Jenkins said the mother of the couple's two-year-old son had gone into the gang with her eyes "wide open".

When police raided the couple's Caerphilly home they found designer clothes worth more than £10,000, a money counting machine, and a Range Rover outside.

Clockwise from top left: Leon Sullivan; Darryl Skym; Matthew Dean and Callum Richards were all jailed

The judge said: "What was a money counter doing in your possession? You were unemployed and living with a man who had no job."

Julia Cox, defending Challenger, called her client "naïve".

Ian Kidley was sentenced to two years

She said Challenger had been used by her partner and had acted on his direction.

The court was told more than $176,000 (£153,520) placed in a crypto wallet was still unaccounted for.

Caitlin De Jager received a sentence of four years and four months

Eight more members of the gang were sentenced on Friday.

• Leon Sullivan, 26, from Caerphilly, received 11 years and four months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs

• Darryl Skym, 28, from Caerphilly, was given 10 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs

• Callum Richards, 26, from Caerphilly, was handed a nine-and-a-half year sentence for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possessing class A drugs with intent to supply

• Matthew Dean, 35, from Caerphilly, was given fours years and three months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possessing class A drugs

• Sami Rehman, 28, from Cardiff, was jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to convert criminal property

• Ian Kidley, 24, from Caerphilly, was sentenced to two years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs

• Amir Khan's partner, Caitlin De Jager, 24, from Cardiff, received a sentence of four years and four months for supplying class A drugs and conspiracy to convert criminal property

• His younger sister Sidra Khan, 28, from Birmingham, was given an 18-month suspended sentence for conspiracy to convert criminal property

Sami Rehman was jailed for 18 months

After the case the Crown Prosecution Service's Millie Davies said: "The thorough investigation showed that some of the defendants were involved in industrial scale drug dealing.

"In an attempt to hide the substantial amounts of money from law enforcement, friends and family were recruited to move cryptocurrency from account to account.

"The strong evidence presented by the CPS resulted in guilty pleas, and an organised crime gang being brought to justice."