Six jailed after £2.4m of drugs found in car boot

Six drug dealers have been jailed after police found cocaine worth £2.4m in the boot of a woman's car.

Thirty kilos of cocaine was found in 47-year-old Rachael Beer's vehicle when she was arrested in Weston-super-Mare in January following an intelligence-led operation.

A safe containing £34,000 and a cash counting machine was found at her home, and further enquiries identified her co-defendants Devon Feltham, 32, Courtney Feltham, 24, Thomas Beasley, 35, Harry Dyer, 32, and Joel Powis, 36.

They all admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and were sentenced to between six and 14 years in prison at Taunton Crown Court on Monday.

Judge Paul Cook said the operation was on an "industrial scale" involving "eye-watering" quantities of drugs.

The group had been communicating through an encrypted messaging app between September 2023 and January 2024.

The gang had collected and redistributed an estimated 170kg of cocaine before they were caught.

Det Ch Insp Ben Lavender, head of the serious and organised crime team at Avon and Somerset Police, said: "This investigation unravelled a multimillion-pound drugs operation supplying cocaine across the South West.

"The supply of drugs like cocaine causes upset and misery in our communities and has associated consequences in terms of further offences being committed to fund addictions.

"Stopping the supply of these harmful substances is a priority for us."

Beer, of Beach Road in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, was handed nine years and seven months imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and possession of criminal property, namely cash.

Beasley, of Apple Tree Close in Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset, was jailed for 14 years and seven months after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine and being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

Devon Feltham, of Birch Grove in Chard, Somerset, was jailed for 12 years after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine, while Courtney Feltham, 24, of the same address, was jailed for 10 years after admitting the same offence.

Powis, of Brockley Crescent, Weston-super-Mare, was jailed for six years and seven months after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Harry Dyer of Cedern Avenue, Weston-super-Mare, was jailed for nine years and four months after admitting two counts of being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession with intent to supply ketamine.

The ketamine was found during a search of Dyer's garage.

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