GMPThe mastermind of an organised crime gang which dealt drugs around the country is wanted by police, after six of his gang members are jailed.
Thomas Hunt, 48, led the “highly structured” operation from his home in Middleton, Greater Manchester, police said.
Manchester Crown Court heard how the group operated on a commercial scale, dealing cocaine, heroin, MDMA and amphetamine with an estimated street value of more than £1.8m.
Nine members who supplied drugs to Bristol, Carlisle, Glasgow, Newcastle and Hampshire in 2024 were sentenced on Friday, and six of them were jailed.
Greater Manchester Police said the gang thought they were “untouchable” as they moved drugs around the country between March and October 2024.
When police caught up with them, officers seized drugs and ammunition concealed in two self-storage containers and more than £75,800 in cash.
They found more than 15kgs of cocaine, 6.4kgs of amphetamine and 1.8kg of heroin.
Officers also found nearly 7,000 ecstasy tablets and 224 rounds of viable ammunition.
GMPThey are still searching for Mr Hunt, who is thought to have controlled operations from his Middleton home.
Surveillance revealed gang members reporting back to him after drug drops and storage visits.
Police said they used encrypted apps, mobile phones and “trusted couriers who carried drugs and cash across the UK”.
The force said: “At the centre of the everything that the group did was Thomas Hunt.
“The 48-year-old who remains wanted for his crimes controlled the operation from his house, directing movements of drugs and picking sites where drugs could be stored and cut.”
GMPPolice said one gang member, James Close, continued his drug business from prison after he was jailed for 36 years earlier this year for his role in another gang.
Aiden Hopkins worked as a courier for a southern gang and made nine trips north before being arrested when police found class A drugs in his vehicle and a firearm at his Gosport home.
Det Sgt Jessica Shiels, from Greater Manchester Police, said: “This was not a street-level operation – it was highly structured, with drugs being dealt and shipped across the country on an industrial scale.”
She said members were “motivated purely by greed, with no regard for the devastation that class A drugs cause our communities”.
She added: “Our work does not stop here, our attention firmly remains on capturing Thomas Hunt and bringing him to justice – we are utilising all of the powers available to us and we will catch up with him.”
Those who were sentenced are:
- Dylan Robinson, 33, of Fallows Avenue, Middleton, was jailed for 12 years and six months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs, possession with intent to supply and possessing ammunition without a firearm certificate.
- Anthony Hunt, 40, of Rudston Avenue, Moston, was jailed for 11 years and three months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possession with intent to supply.
- Stanley Ainsley, 58, of Birch Street, Gorton, was jailed for eight years and seven months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possession with intent to supply
- Aiden Hopkins, 31, of no fixed abode, was jailed for three years and nine months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
- Robert Earnshaw, 29, of Eastwood Road, New Moston, was jailed for three years and four months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possession with intent to supply.
- Graham Sykes, 63, of Moston Lane, Moston, will spend five years and three months behind bars for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and production of cannabis.
- Thomas Lockwood, 60, of Mossbrook Court, Collyhurst, was sentenced to 20 months, suspended for 12 months and 10 rehabilitation requirement days.
- Lisa Prescott, 40, of Henry Street, Leigh, was sentenced to 24 months, suspended for 12 months with 100 hours unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation requirement days.
- Rachel Blackburn-Stanley, 35, of Rudston Avenue, Moston, was sentenced for 18 months, suspended for nine months with 15 rehabilitation requirement days.