FOUR more drug runners have been jailed after an undercover operation in Colchester and Clacton.
Seventeen people have now been dealt with as part of the sting. Jail sentences totalling 52 years and two months have been handed out so far and more drug dealers are still due to be sentenced.
Judge Charles Gratwicke told the latest dealers to appear in Chelmsford Crown Court that drugs wrecked lives and sometimes led to the death of users. The four dealers were: l David Bartholomew, 28, Wellesley Road, Clacton, who received a three-and-a-half- year sentence after he admitted 11 charges of supplying heroin and crack cocaine.
l David Smith, 36, Links Road, Clacton, who admitted supplying heroin and crack cocaine and was jailed for two years.
l Joseph Parkes, 26, formerly of Priory Street, Colchester, but now of no fixed address, who admitted one charge of supplying crack cocaine charge and was jailed for two years.
l Harun Khaire, 22, of Shepherds Bush, West London, was jailed for a total of three-and-a half years. He admitted two charges of supplying crack cocaine and two charges of possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.
The drugs crackdown, called Operation Wafer, saw a series of dawn raids across Clacton and Colchester last October.
Information was gathered by undercover officers using hidden cameras after tip-offs from residents.
Five men and one woman arrested as part of Operation Wafer are due to be sentenced as Chelmsford Crown Court today.
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