Harlow drugs network which supplied county lines gangs jailed

The dealers sold about three kilograms of cocaine a week to gangs in Essex, Hertfordshire and London before laundering the money via Bitcoin – a high-profile cryptocurrency.

Christopher Golding headed up the network which smuggled cocaine in containers through ports before selling it on.

The operation was estimated to have earned them at least £500,000 which was stashed in Bitcoin or laundered through the pub Golding ran as a licensee.

Officers started an investigation into the group after members of the public reported seeing drug dealing taking place.

Two of the group members, Lee Collett and Lee Wilkinson, were arrested in May 2018.

Officers began identifying players higher up the chain, eventually leading them to Golding.

Operation Shark saw 19 people arrested following the execution of 17 warrants in harlow. Photo: Essex Police

Then last year an international operation - led in the UK by the National Crime Agency – saw the takedown of the encrypted communications platform EncroChat.

The secure mobile phone instant messaging was primarily used by criminals to co-ordinate and plan criminal activities.

Messages obtained from infiltration of EncroChat revealed the scale of the operation being run by Golding who was arranging bulk sales of cocaine, charging £41,000 for a kilogram; he was using Bitcoin as a form of payment and was laundering money through the crypto currency.

In 2020 Golding transferred more than £120,000 in Bitcoin accounts.

Detective Chief Inspector Lewis Basford said: “The extra evidence secured from the EncroChat messages was the final nail in the coffin for Golding and his key associates.

“With this information and the wealth of evidence officers had already secured throughout this complex investigation, they had nowhere to hide and no option but to plead guilty at court.”

(Top left to right) Adam Dalby, Agirdas Guistaitis, David Wilkinson, Lee Collett, Lee Wilkinson, Robert Aldred, Stuart Thurgood, and Christopher Golding. Photos: Essex Police

The investigation culminated in dawn raids involving more than 200 officers at 18 addresses in Harlow and one in Haverhill, Suffolk, on October 8 last year.

More than £100,000 in cash, assets and weapons, as well as £120,000 worth of cocaine was seized.

“What was unusual about this particular organised crime group was the key players were virtually all local to Harlow yet were supplying drugs gangs operating across London and three counties,” said DCI Basford.

“The scale of their operation was huge and we estimate they were selling around 3kg of cocaine a week to about ten county lines gangs.”

Golding, 39 of Hart Road, Harlow, was among seven men who admitted conspiracy to supply a class A drug when they appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on March 24.

He was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment at the same court on May 27.

Christopher Lee Collett, 37, of Perry Spring, Harlow, was jailed for two years; Robert Aldred, 30, of Pittmans Field, Harlow, was jailed for two years and eight months; Agirdas Gustaitis Agirdas Gustaitis, 31, of Meadow Court, Harlow, was jailed for two years and four months; Stuart Thurgood, 39, of Morley Grove, Harlow, was jailed for eight years; David Wilkinson, 36, of Primrose Hill, Haverhill, was jailed for four years and eight months; Lee Wilkinson, 38, of Parsonage, Leys, Harlow was jailed for six years and eight months; and Adam Dalby, 36, of Wedgwood Drive, Harlow, was also jailed for six years and eight months.

Cllr Joel Charles, deputy leader of Harlow Council, said: “This successful operation has taken the ringleaders of a local gang off our streets and landed another blow against organised crime in the East of England. The impact on communities as a result of county lines gang activity is devastating and vulnerable people, including children, can often be coerced to carry out the bidding of such criminal networks. Making sure the ringleaders of these types of gangs face justice keeps our streets safe, disrupts the illegal drug supply chain and means fewer vulnerable people are trapped in a life of crime.”