WhatsApp messages help bring down multi‑million pound drugs network in south Wales

Detectives say a handful of WhatsApp messages found on another gang leader’s phone set off an investigation that dismantled what prosecutors described as a multi‑million pound drugs empire operating across south Wales. Robert Andrews Jr, 34, who presented to neighbours as an ordinary family man, was arrested after covert surveillance captured kilogram‑scale Class A drug exchanges and large cash handovers. He was sentenced at Newport Crown Court to 14 years and eight months.

Gwent Police officers began their inquiry after messages on the mobile phone of a Merthyr Tydfil man, Kerry Evans, repeatedly referred to one contact who organised significant drug consignments and payments. Evans was jailed last year; investigators traced the contact to Andrews Jr in Newport and launched Operation Mayland, a months‑long surveillance effort that recorded numerous deals, often in a secluded area near the M4 motorway known to officers as "the clearing."

Detective Inspector Ian Bartholomew of Gwent Police said authorities were alerted by what he called a "little nugget" of intelligence that pointed to a high‑level dealer. Undercover teams filmed Andrews Jr meeting couriers in woodland and on public roads, sometimes exchanging drugs and thousands of pounds in supermarket carrier bags. In one recorded transfer police say Andrews Jr handed over more than £100,000. The covert footage and later searches of seized phones and property provided the evidential trail to charge him with conspiracy to supply and supply of cocaine and heroin.

Surveillance material showed the organised group used trust tokens and serial‑number verification to authenticate cash movements. In one instance, Andrews Jr accepted a £5 note from a man who entered his car and subsequently checked its serial number to confirm a London cash runner collecting owed funds. When police intercepted the cash runner they found a bag containing £109,000. Phone data recovered after Andrews’ arrest also indicated rapid, high‑value payments: investigators say six payments over two weeks totalled about £650,000.

The operation led to multiple linked prosecutions. Newport taxi driver Mohammed Yamin was stopped on a dual carriageway after leaving "the clearing" and was found with 2kg of high‑purity cocaine in his cab, a quantity police estimated to have a street value of about £200,000; Yamin received a six‑and‑a‑half year sentence for possession with intent to supply. Samuel Takahashi, described by police as a "significant member" of the organised crime group, was jailed for eight years after being seen on camera dealing with Andrews Jr.

Police used material from Andrews Jr’s mobile phone, recovered after a dawn raid just before Christmas 2023, to map supply lines and financial flows. Officers say Andrews tried to hide the device by throwing it on top of a bedroom wardrobe as they entered, but it was recovered and contained detailed logs of orders, debtors and payments.

Detective Chief Superintendent Andrew Tuck said the evidence pointed to wholesale dealings: "He was dealing in large quantities, kilo amounts of controlled drugs, which would equate to cocaine the size of a bag of sugar at a time," Tuck told reporters. He added that exchanges routinely involved tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Prosecutors also linked suppliers in the north‑west of England to the Newport network. Nathan Jones, from Bolton, was jailed for 18 years after being convicted of supplying more than £1 million worth of cocaine to Andrews Jr’s group. Rahail Mehrban received a sentence of 10 years and nine months for couriering consignments worth about half a million pounds. At sentencing, a judge criticised Andrews Jr for involving family members in the enterprise; the defendant’s mother received a suspended sentence earlier this year after making a payment to one of her son's couriers.

Although Andrews Jr kept a low public profile and did not display ostentatious wealth, officers said searches of an unfinished property linked to him revealed high‑value fixtures and furnishings, including a kitchen costing about £60,000. Police said the discovery underlined the gap between his outward appearance and the proceeds of the organised criminal activity.

The crown described the dismantled network as a wholesale supply chain distributing cocaine and heroin across south Wales. In court, Judge Carl Harrison told Andrews Jr that dealing Class A drugs "fuels misery" and said he should be "ashamed" for involving relatives. Det Ch Supt Tuck said the sentences should serve as a warning to others that "drug crime has no place in our communities and there will be consequences."

Prosecutors, specialist policing units and covert surveillance were central to unravelling the operation after the discovery of incriminating messages. Authorities said the case demonstrates how digital communications can provide a vital lead in investigations of organised crime and how coordinated efforts can disrupt large‑scale illegal markets.