DEALERSSHAMED (From Barry And District News)

DEALERSSHAMED

FOUR drug dealers have been jailed for a total of more than 17 years for plying their trade in a Barry park.

The four men were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court, following a police surveillance operation which concentrated on the men's deals at Pencoedtre Park, Gibbonsdown.

Mark Forrester, aged 33, of Edwards Street, Barry, received three years and four months.

Shane Baird, aged 37, of Ar-y-Nant, Barry, received three years and four months.

Keith Lukins, aged 54, of Adamsdown Lane, Cardiff, received six and a half years.

And Dean Barry, aged 26, of Aberdore Road, Cardiff, received four years and four months.

Lukins had denied possession of heroin with intent to supply and three counts of supplying the drug but was found guilty.

The three other men all admitted supplying heroin.

The class A dealers were arrested in April last year during a drugs operation code-named High Stile.

Police in the Vale initiated the surveillance operation when intelligence sources discovered that the men were trafficking heroin from Cardiff to Barry on a daily basis, in a large-scale organised network.

Detective Inspector Dave Runnalls, who led the operation, said: "The officers involved in Operation High Stile are motivated and committed to tackling criminality.

"The police have developed sophisticated techniques and skills used to target drug dealers at all levels.

"Drug dealers in the Vale can rest assured that we know who they are and that we are coming after them.

"The inevitable outcome of drug dealing will be a long prison sentence."

Divisional Commander for the Vale of Glamorgan, Superintendent Sue Hayes, added: "We have a zero tolerance approach to those who peddle drugs and misery to young people in the Vale.