They have fuelled some of the most violent crimes seen in Jersey in recent years – including an axe murder in April last year – and even long-term users of conventional drugs such as heroin and cocaine have warned others to steer clear of the substances.
Over recent months it has become increasingly apparent that so-called legal highs have had a devastating effect on the Island community since exploding onto the drugs scene in 2008.
And while more and more Islanders become hooked on the substances which can be bought online for as little as £10, those behind the illicit enterprises are living the lives of luxury enjoyed by celebrities.
The fortune that can be earned through peddling the products – tablets and powders now referred to as new psychoactive substances – was recently revealed when a seven-strong gang fronted by an accountant turned criminal mastermind was sentenced for running Britain’s biggest ‘legal high’ factory.
The investigation was launched by a specialist UK force after Jersey’s Customs and Immigration Service passed on information and intelligence following a dramatic increase in psychoactive substance use in 2012.
The Amazon-style online sales business, based at a disused mill warehouse in an industrial zone in Bolton, had a loyal following of 18,500 customers who simply placed orders with a click of a button and waited for their goods to arrive in the post.
But while suppliers of conventional drugs – those who deal heroin, cocaine and cannabis in the back streets of cities and towns – often live in estates along with their customers, the woman behind the Bolton substance factory, 46-year-old Paula White, was living a life a world away from her clients.
When officers launched a series of co-ordinated raids, they found that White’s luxury £1 million mansion in Manchester was in the process of being extended, with work also being carried out to install a swimming pool.
She also owned an £800,000 villa in the upmarket Spanish resort of Marbella, drove an Aston Martin and owned designer clothes, jewellery and at least one television worth £25,000. White – who was an accountant before starting her criminal enterprise in 2011 – even owned a £10,000 dog kennel.
And it is likely that the operation, which netted the gang £3 million, would have continued to go unnoticed had it not been for Jersey’s Customs officers.
The gang’s success lay with the fact that, while posting the products to customers within the UK, their activities were flying under the radar among the thousands of other parcels going through the postal system. But in 2012 as the gang’s operations grew and they started to sell to users in the Channel Islands, the products, for the very first time, passed through a border control and Jersey’s Customs officers started their own investigation.
As the inquiry continued, it became clear that the products were coming from the Greater Manchester area and were being sent through a website called Wide Mouth Frogs – which was run by the gang.
Customs then collated the information and forwarded it to police in the UK, and the case was pursued by the North-West Regional Organised Crime Unit Titan.
In a statement Greater Manchester Police said: ‘The latest Titan investigation began in the Channel Island of Jersey and led to the largest legal high investigation in the UK.
‘A surveillance operation captured the gang members leaving the post office from where the packages were dispatched on a number of occasions and this led officers to the hub of the drug operation.
‘Officers swooped in and found a complex set-up, including the gang’s own drug store packed with pre-packaged commodities for onward distribution, a pill press machine and machinery for packing the drugs into individual deals.’
The gang sold huge quantities of drugs – 200 kg of which were sent through Wide Mouth Frogs alone. It is believed that through the website – and several others operated by the group – the gang sold drugs to almost every major country in the globe.
The gang members were arrested in May 2013 and eventually sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on Friday, with ringleader White being locked up for nine years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class B drugs.
Customs confirmed to the JEP that Wide Mouth Frogs, which has been shut down, was one of the most popular ‘legal high’ sites used by Islanders.
And Mark Cockerham, director of law enforcement at Customs, said that after the website was taken offline, there was a reduction in the substances being ordered online in Jersey. During recent years dozens of Islanders have needed hospital treatment after taking legal highs and two teenagers have lost their lives, although it is not known whether the substances were sold by the gang.
‘We saw it as an excellent opportunity to get a greater understanding of the legal high market. We were pretty shocked by what we found and the very high proportion of controlled drugs.
‘The group were very organised and professional and had placed great emphasis on customer service.
‘This gang did not fit with the traditional image of an organised crime group but they made a lot of money.’
The leader
Paula White, a former accountant from the Manchester district of Eccles, who claims she started the business as a legitimate company before it turned to supplying drugs in 2011. She admitted conspiracy to supply class B drugs and was jailed for nine years.
The lieutenant
Known as ‘the Headmistress’ to other gang members, Netta Hymanson was a high-ranking group member and White’s former civil partner. The 64-year-old, of Prestwich, near Manchester, was convicted of conspiracy to supply class B drugs following a trial in November last year and was jailed for four years.
Web designer
Rudie Chiu (26) of Levenshulme, Manchester, designed and ran Wide Mouth Frogs. He was found guilty of conspiracy to supply class B drugs and received a two-year suspended jail sentence.
Office worker
According to local media reports of the case, Sheena Jessop (47) of Ramsbottom, near Manchester, described herself as the ‘Willy Wonka of the drugs world’. She was employed in an administrative role and was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence after being convicted of conspiracy to supply class B drugs.
Office worker
Aniello Della-Croce (30), of Manchester, worked in the office for White and was sentenced to an 18-month suspended sentence after being convicted of the same conspiracy charge.
Manufacturer
White’s brother – 39-year-old Christian White – manufactured and delivered the drugs from the factory. He was jailed for four years after being found guilty of the same conspiracy charge.
Gang member
