A DRUGS empire motivated by “profit and greed” operated on “commercial” lines to get heroin on the streets of the South Coast, a court heard.

Bosses sourced the pure class A drug in Liverpool and distributed it using couriers who drove along the motorways to Brighton, Hove and Eastbourne where it was cut, bagged up and sold on the streets, jurors were told.

Caroline Haughey, prosecuting, said: “A significant proportion of crime is financially motivated.

“It is rare that people get involved [with drugs] unless it is for profit. Profit, money and greed underpin this operation.

“The supply chain organisation ran along commercial lines like any good business. But it was illegal.”

Ian Frost, 48, of Palmeira Square, Hove, Louis Makai, 45, of Langridge Drive, Portslade, Lea Smith, 46, of Natal Road, Brighton, Sean Davidson 49, of Downhill View, Brighton, and Ronnie Edwards 49, of Chiddingly Close, Brighton, all deny being part of a conspiracy to supply heroin.

Over the course of an 11-month police operation between 2014 and 2015, automatic number plate recognition cameras recorded 55 trips made by drugs couriers between Liverpool and Sussex using the M6, the M40 and the M25, Hove Crown Court heard.

Surveillance by officers in Operation Wildwood recorded frequent calls between alleged members of the gang and raids recovered thousands of pounds in cash and large quantities of the drug. This all demonstrated the scale of the operation run like a business “franchise”, Ms Haughey said.

Alleged ringleader Thomas Wynn, known as Tommy, died in Dubai last year while on police bail, the court was told. He skipped bail in March last year after being arrested over the conspiracy and the 49-year-old was found dead in a hotel room, Sussex Police confirmed in August.

Police said he was on the run after being arrested in connection with a £5 million drug plot.

The 49-year-old, of Commercial Road in Vauxhall, Liverpool, was confirmed dead after being found in a hotel room, a police statement at the time said. He was reportedly a former best friend of the assassinated Liverpool gangster George Bromley and said to be a close friend of fellow Liverpudlian drug lord Curtis Warren who was dubbed Britain's most notorious drugs trafficker and formerly Interpol's most wanted.

The trial continues.

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