Drugs gang who flooded Newport with cocaine made £750,000

Kieron Weaver, Rhys Lovett, Steven Rogers and Eoin Holder were jailed for nearly 30 years last Christmas.

They were back in court to face a proceeds of crime hearing during which prosecutor Steven Donoghue outlined how much they profited and how much could be seized.

Drugs boss Weaver, 28, of Crawford Street, Newport, who was jailed for 10 years and four months, benefitted by £234,344.59.

He has £51,455.65 in available assets and has three months to pay it to the authorities or face an additional five years in prison.

Weaver’s deputy Lovett, 31, Greenhill Road, Cwmbran, who was sent to prison for nine years, made £449,499.81.

He has £1,500 available and has to hand it over within three months or face an extra six months behind bars.

Drug runners Rogers, 37, of Hawthorn Road, Sebastopol, Pontypool, who was locked up for six years, profited by £38,350.11 and Holder, 34, of South Street, Sebastopol, Pontypool, who was jailed for four years, by £27,269.05.

They both have zero assets and Judge Matthew Porter-Bryant made a nominal order for £1 to be paid by each within three months or they face six months imprisonment.

When they were sentenced last December, Newport Crown Court heard how Weaver supplied cocaine to Lovett who would then in turn used Rogers and Holder to sell it on the streets.

Weaver had links to gangsters in Yorkshire from whom he would buy large quantities of high purity cocaine, prosecutor Nuhu Gobir said.

When police searched Weaver’s Newport home following his arrest they found a £65,000 Rolex Oyster watch as well as designer clothes and shoes.

The gang were brought to justice after Gwent Police used covert techniques to gather evidence.

Judge Daniel Williams told the defendants: “You Kieron Weaver sourced wholesale quantities of cocaine from an organised crime group based in Yorkshire which you then supplied to downstream dealers, that’s the three other of you.

“The principal contact was Rhys Lovett who would refer you on to Eoin Holder and Steven Rogers.

“It’s clear that you Kieron Weaver was involved in serious organised crime with substantial links to those in Yorkshire.”

Weaver would also make regular trips to Bridgewater in Somerset to buy cocaine from drug dealers there.

It was on one of these journeys that police caught him.

He was followed on his return home to Newport and ordered to pull over by officers on the M5.
Weaver was in an Iveco van he’d stolen from his employer Quantum Traffic Management and was banned from driving at the time.

Instead of stopping he rammed a police car before he was arrested following a short chase on the motorway.

Police found 271g of cocaine and 1kg of cannabis inside the van.

The defendants all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Weaver also admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, possession of criminal property, aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

He had 19 previous convictions for 11 offences, including aggravated vehicle taking, possession of cannabis with intent to supply and failing to provide a specimen.

It was Lovett’s third class A drug trafficking conviction.