This dramatic footage shows the moment a drug lord and his sidekick were arrested by police as they attempted to flee Notts in a taxi.
Andrew Fitzgerald was detained on the A617 near Newark along with his trusted right-hand man, Sean Richardson.
Both men were attempting to flee the county after Nottinghamshire Police uncovered a significant drugs conspiracy that saw them flood communities with crack cocaine, cocaine and heroin.
As the net closed in, another member of the drugs cartel tried to dispose of two drug phones by dropping them into tins of paint – but these were recovered and provided vital evidence.
Fifteen people were yesterday (14) sentenced for their part in the illicit enterprise, in which the organised crime group (OCG) used five distinct mobile phone lines to advertise, take orders of and sell Class A drugs in the Kirkby, Sutton and Eastwood areas of Nottinghamshire, as well as Skegness in Lincolnshire.
Nottingham Crown Court heard Corey Graham, Andrew Cox and Nathan Sharp controlled the drug lines on behalf of drug kingpin Fitzgerald and his lieutenants, and that hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of crack cocaine, cocaine and heroin were sold by the group between January 2023 and July 2024.
Detectives discovered and then seized further quantities of the Class A drugs, which, if sold, would have netted the drugs gang an estimated £125,000.
More than £40,000 in cash plus high-value jewellery items were also seized.
Various weapons including an air pistol, knives and a cross bow with arrows were also discovered by officers executing warrants as part of the investigation.
The conspiracy began to unravel when police seized a mobile phone from one of the group’s suppliers, Tyrone Shand, that identified the bulk purchasing of Class A drugs. Voice notes between Shand and Miller identified Miller sourcing bulk quantities of cocaine and heroin from Shand.
Detectives identified that the OCG were involved in the supply of large volumes of drugs from designated “stash houses”, located in Bulwell and Bestwood in Nottingham.
These properties were used to store large quantities of Class A drugs, weapons and cash. From here, they’d deliver the commodities to customers in Nottinghamshire and Skegness.
Multiple warrants were executed at residential properties and detectives seized a plethora of mobile phones containing damning evidence. Other defendants were also convicted after being forensically linked to evidence seized during the investigation.
15 defendants were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday 14 January).
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said the group had shown an “utter disregard to the misery and risk of life”.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, it would have continued to run had it not been dismantled by the police,” he concluded.
