The drugs removed from the safehouse disappeared
Four young men who thought they were “proper little gangsters” with balaclavas and a getaway car where arrested an hour after police started hunting for them, a court has heard. Harvey Young, Maddox Vaughan, Ryan Naaif, and Harrison Davies were running a cannabis dealing operation in Swansea which was stopped thanks to calls from members of the public.
The defendants have been handed suspended custodial sentences with a judge at Swansea Crown Court telling them: “Do let me see you again gentlemen – it will not end well”.
Harry Dickens, prosecuting, told the court that on February 15 last year people on St Helen’s Avenue in Swansea contacted police to report suspicious activity at a property on the street. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here.
He said a Ford Fiesta car had been seen to pull up outside a house and three men wearing balaclavas got out. The masked men were seen to enter a house and then emerge five minutes later carrying boxes and a “heavily-laden laundry bag” before getting back into the Ford. The car then sped off.
Officers attended the scene and after forcing entry to the property in question found it was being used as a base for cannabis dealing.
The court heard that police began to hunt for the Fiesta and an hour later it was located on Walter Road heading for the Uplands area of the city. The Ford was boxed in by police units and when the driver – Vaughan – was questioned he said he was “just giving my mates a lift”.
The front seat passenger in the car – Young – was seen to dispose of a bag, and when it was recovered and examined was found to contain two kitchen knives and a meat cleaver. He was found to be carrying £655 in cash and bags of cannabis.
Back seat passenger Davies was searched and was found with a black balaclava and gloves in his pocket while fellow rear passenger Naif had a quantity of cannabis. Further bags of cannabis were recovered from the inside the car and from pavement nearby having apparently been thrown away.
In total some 158g of cannabis was recovered by police at the scene of the stop. The court heard that messages were found on Young’s phone relating to drug supply, with one instructing a contact to “make sure you are up early grafting”.
The prosecutor said most of the cannabis removed from the St Helen’s Avenue property had been removed from the car in the hour between the incident on the street and the Fiesta being stopped, and said it is not known what happened to it.
Harvey Young, now aged 20, of Gorwydd Road, Gowerton; Maddox Vaughan, aged 20, of Mysydd Road, Landore, Swansea; Ryan Naaif, aged 25, of Foxhole Road, St Thomas, Swansea; and Harrison Davies, aged 24 of Port Tennant Road, Port Tennant, Swansea, had all previously pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply when they appeared in the dock for sentencing
Young has previous convictions for being concerned in the supply of cannabis and crack cocaine from 2023, an offence for which he was sentenced to 18 months detention in a young offenders institution. He was on licence for those matters when he was arrested in the Fiesta.
Naaif has a previous conviction for possession of cannabis with intent to supply; Vaughan has a previous conviction for drug-driving; Davies has no previous convictions.
Hywel Davies, for Young, said in the 20 months since the offending the defendant had “turned his life around” and is now expecting a child with his partner.
Matt Murphy, for Naiff, said the defendant had taken steps to remove himself from his previous peers and criminal lifestyle. He said his client “wants to contribute to society rather than taking from it”.
Giles Hayes, for Vaughan, said in the past the defendant had associated with a peer group who smoked cannabis, drug-taking which led him to the dock of a crown court. He said his client now has a job with a vehicle repair business in the Landore area of Swansea.
Steven Burnell, for Davies, said his client had expressed his remorse for his involvement in the offending.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told the defendant’s they must have thought they were “proper little gangsters” with their balaclavas, drug safehouse, and getaway car.
With discounts for their guilty pleas Young was sentenced to two years detention in a young offenders institution suspended for two years, Naaif to 18 months detention suspended for two years, and Davies and Vaughan each to nine months in prison suspended for 12 months. The defendants were also ordered to complete rehabilitation courses and unpaid work in the community, and Davies was also ordered to complete a mental health treatment requirement.
The judge told the defendants: “Do let me see you again gentlemen – it will not end well”.
Judge Thomas called the delay in the case coming to court “quite disgraceful”.
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