FOUR men who tried to smuggle drugs worth an estimated £270,000 into the Island have been handed prison sentences totalling 36 years as part of a lengthy investigation, titled “Operation Elf”, by Jersey Customs and Immigration Service.
And a fifth man narrowly avoided jail for his part in the drugs plot.
The Royal Court heard that the men tried to bring cocaine, ecstasy, THC and ketamine into Jersey on four separate occasions in 2022 and 2023.
Two of the men, Ibrahim Abdullah Roslan (35) and Michael Anthony Quinn (34), were each jailed yesterday for nine years and six months, while Aaron Nursaw (35) was jailed for nine years and Kyle Samuel Dawson (28) received a sentence of eight years and six months.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Jordan Neil Barnett-Roberts was sentenced to 450 hours of community service.
It is estimated that the 54.71 grams of high-purity cocaine seized would have had a street value of between £8,000 and £14,000, while the street value of the 2,492 tablets of ecstasy would have been between £50,000 and £75,000. The overall estimated street value of the class A drugs was between £58,000 and £89,000.
The court heard that Nursaw, who lived in England, sourced, packaged and arranged for the drugs to be conveyed to Jersey.
Roslan was the contact in the Island who was waiting to receive the drugs for their onward supply.
Under the smuggling plan, Barnett-Roberts was to collect the package containing the drugs and deliver it to Roslan. In fact, Customs officers intercepted it and replaced it with a dummy package.
Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam, prosecuting, said Roslan arrived at a property in Mont Cochon with the drugs on 1 July 2022 and police officers arrived shortly afterwards.
Roslan escaped through a bedroom window but forensic tests showed that Dawson, who was also present at the address, had had contact with the dummy package.
Roslan, Dawson and Barnett-Roberts were all subsequently arrested.
Then, in July 2023, a package containing cocaine and ecstasy was sent to Quinn. Another that arrived in September that year contained cocaine and was shown to be linked to Roslan through his mobile phone.
Different advocates defended each client.
Advocate Nicholas Mière, defending Nursaw, said his client was “at a very low ebb” at the time of the offences, but added: “He will not be part of any-thing of this nature ever again. A lesson has been well and truly learnt.”
Advocate Mike Preston, defending Roslan, said he had grown up in an area of north-west England where drugs were very readily available and added: “He doesn’t want to be a career criminal. It is not something he is proud of.”
Advocate Stephen Wauchope, defending Barnett-Roberts, pointed out that his client was 20 at the time of the offences, so could be treated as a young offender and warned: “A custodial sentence could undo all the positive steps that Mr Barnett-Roberts has made.”
Advocate Frances Littler, defending Dawson, said his client had only played a minor role and added: “This will be his one and only time in the courts.”
And Advocate James Bell, defending Quinn, said: “He accepts he had some involvement in this but he was not the principal organiser. He got involved with something he wasn’t previously involved with.”
However, the Jurats decided that only Barnett-Roberts could be spared prison.
Commissioner Alan Binnington said: “Drug trafficking is an evil which has the capacity to wreak havoc on the lives of the abusers and their families.”
After the sentencings, Jersey Customs and Immigration Service senior manager Luke Goddard said: “This was a long and complex investigation with large amounts of phone, financial and forensic data, all of which needed close examination and analysis.
“It incorporated the JCIS Investigation Unit undertaking covert activities as well as the border teams at the ports and post office.”
Jurats Christensen, Austin-Vautier, Le Cornu, Opferman and Entwistle were sitting.
