Lee Silvester, 41, of Lullingstone Crescent, Bromley, was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on Wednesday, 10 April after being found guilty of four counts of conspiracy to supply and four counts of possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Brendan Kennedy said: “Silvester’s sentence concludes a matter that has been running for several years targeting organised criminality in the drug trade.
The evidence demonstrated that his offending was linked to the importation of class A drugs into the UK involving criminals based overseas. Our investigation, assisted by partners in international law enforcement agencies, has caused them significant logistical and financial disruption as a result.
“We want to make London a hostile place for anyone considering this kind of activity, and there is no better deterrent for anyone involved in this kind of activity than spending years in prison.”
In April 2022 officers observed a man attending a storage unit in west London, where he was stopped and arrested in the process of unloading class A drugs – later found to have a street value of £600k, – from his vehicle.
He was charged and remanded and was later convicted and jailed for over five years for possession with intent to supply offences.
Meanwhile, officers had seized and examined that man’s phone and identified Silvester as being the person directing and controlling him. They began an investigation into him and he was arrested in September 2022 and when stopped found to be in possession of class A drugs valued at over £50k.
A search of his property uncovered a wealth of evidence, including further drugs and associated paraphernalia including heat sealing devices, packaging equipment and a ‘burner’ phone which showed he he’d been in regular contact with the other man. It was also found that he was on the contract for the storage unit alongside the other man.
Silvester was later charged.
He went on trial at Kingstown Crown Court, and was found guilty by unanimous verdict by a jury who deliberated for fewer than three hours.
