A Manchester-based crime network involved in the wholesale supply and distribution of drugs has been smashed thanks to Greater Manchester Police.
Thanks to Operation Medusa, which was set up by police to expose the activities of this organised crime group, officers seized up to £380,000 worth of Class A and B drugs.
Today Thursday 7 June 2012 the main players of the network are starting jail sentences following a trial hearing at Liverpool Crown Court.
William Michael Skillen (born 04/10/1985), of Blueberry Avenue, Moston, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and two counts of conspiracy to supply class B drugs and was jailed for eight years.
Mark Anderson (born 04/11/1985), of Tutbury Street, Ancoats pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to supply class B drugs and was jailed for five and a half years.
Christopher Phythian (born 31/03/1984), of Longham Close, Beswick pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was jailed for three and a half years.
Lewis Thompson (born 12/11/1985) of Ordsall Lane, Salford pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to supply class B drugs. He was jailed for five years.
Jason Bennett (born 19/04/1971), of Kilmington Drive, Cheetham Hill pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class B drugs. He is due to be sentenced 3 December 2012.
At the head of the network was Skillen, who controlled and directed the other members, overseeing and directing the collection and delivery of multi-kilo amounts of Class A and B drugs throughout the UK.
The others were trusted members of this crime group all involved in the wholesale distribution of the drugs.
On 18 January 2011, police seized a large block of white powder from two men at a house in Stockport. This was later forensically examined and revealed to be 1.016 kilos of cocaine with a purity of 60 percent and a street value of £169,000.
At this time, Skillen and Anderson were in Thailand having flown business class, but inquiries showed Skillen and Thompson, who remained in the UK, were controlling the supply of this block of cocaine.
On 12 April 2011, Thompson visited Bennett's home in Cheetham Hill and left carrying several bags which he put into the boot of his car. He was stopped and found in possession of 2.35 kilos of cannabis worth about £14,000 on the streets. Again, mobile inquiries established Skillen controlled this deal.
Thompson was bailed, and during the summer of 2011 the police operation to uncover the activities of the OCG continued.
On Friday 30 September 2011, Skillen, Thompson and Phythian went to Anderson's home in Ancoats. Skillen, Anderson and Phythian were seen taking a plastic carrier bag out of the boot of a silver Chevrolet Captiva and put it into a silver Ford Focus.
Phythian and Anderson drove off in the Focus, and Skillen and Thompson in the Chevrolet. The Focus travelled to Essex that evening and then returned to Manchester, where it was stopped by police with Anderson and Phythian inside. Three large blocks were found in the boot, and when forensically examined were found to be just shy of 3,000 grams of cocaine with a street value of up £150,000.
Anderson's home was searched and officers recovered an Asda shopping bag underneath his bag containing four bags of white powder, later found to be amphetamines worth up to £3,000.
On 17 November 2011, Skillen was spotted leaving a gym in Rochdale in a black Vauxhall Zafira. Police carried out an armed strike on the car on Edge Lane, Droylsden, and Skillen was arrested. A foil package was found in the boot containing three plastic bags with a combined weight of 2.99 kilograms of Methylethlcathinone with a street value of £45,000.
Skillen's home was also raided and about £10,000 in cash found in a kitchen drawer.
Detective Inspector Stephen Earnshaw, from GMP's Drug Unit, said: "Today is the reward for months of painstaking detective work by our officers to unmask this organised crime group and bring the main players to justice.
"At the head of this network was Skillen, who controlled those around him and was the main man in terms of organising the collection and delivery of large amounts of drugs in both Manchester and the rest of the country.
"By taking him and his lieutenants out of the game, what this means for the law-abiding people of our communities is less drugs on their streets and we know that people are fed up of drug dealers thinking they can strut about acting as if they are above the law.
"The fact is that no-one is above the law and what today shows is that Greater Manchester Police's Drug Unit will use every available tool in our arsenal to expose these drug dealers for the criminals they are. Regardless of whether you are a user, a supplier or the head of a network, we will be watching you and you will be brought to justice.
"I also want to stress that we do not rest when drug dealers are locked up. Using Proceeds of Crime Act legislation, we will hit these criminals where it really hurts - their wallets, and do everything in our power to take the money and property they have earned dealing drugs and profiting from people's addictions off them. Our message is clear: if you deal drugs you will lose your freedom and your assets."
COLUMN: Shopping at Walmart is voting for poor working conditions - Oklahoma Daily
On May 22, the Norman City Council voted to grant Walmart’s request to re-zone a five-acre plot of land on 36th Avenue and Rock Creek Road in preparation for a Walmart neighborhood market grocery store.
Residents of the surrounding area protested the vote, claiming that Walmart does not engage in ethical business practices. Opposing voices also noted that another Walmart is located just two miles south of the planned location.
Protests against Walmart are certainly nothing new; Walmart is a lightning rod for collective anger against globalization, wage deflation and concerns over worker’s health and safety.
By singling out Walmart stores, protestors reveal much more about their own ignorance, laziness and hypocrisy than anything else.
Walmart is certainly a huge player in global markets and is a huge importer of goods from lesser-developed countries through its supplier network. The effect of this amount of capital influx into countries around the world has led to large amounts of job creation in many countries.
It is very easy for middle-aged suburbanites to become upset over working conditions that they have zero direct experience with, but many of the workers themselves do not feel the same way.
When a Mongolian student at a U.S. workshop on globalization heard U.S. college students denounce sweatshops, he shouted: “Please give us your sweatshops.”
Moreover, these practices are not unique to Walmart. Thinking that shopping at Target or JCPenny somehow helps the problem is ridiculous. How many anti-globalization protests on campus have we seen using poster board and markers bought from these same stores? Walmart is simply an easy target for those who do not want to change their own lifestyle to reflect their so-called “beliefs.”
The one justified criticism coming out the anti-Walmart crowd is over domestic labor concerns. Many critics and watchdog organizations for paying low wages, not provided benefits and unpaid overtime have cited Walmart.
Another huge issue with Walmart wages is that those wages force many employees to take advantage of state aid. These wages also are in line with federal minimum wage.
Walmart is certainly a mixed bag when it comes to domestic labor concerns. It employs and trains huge numbers of workers, both skilled and unskilled. It also takes full advantage of those workers in depressing wages and fighting labor unions. In this way, Walmart carries with it substantially more baggage than a regional grocery store.
It is important to remember that Walmart must be compared to other retailers. Unskilled workers at other grocery stores and retail outlets make only marginally better wages with very similar working conditions. In other words, a checker at Walmart is not particularly different than a checker at Homeland.
Again, because of its size and national scope, Walmart becomes a focus for a large campaign that should be directed toward national labor standards and governmental oversight. If the minimum wage were raised, all companies, not just Walmart, would comply.
Possibly one of the most dangerous aspects of Walmart protests is that they detract attention from these larger issues that are systemic to many companies in the United States. By focusing so heavily on one retailer, we ignore the larger problem of national worker’s rights.
The most incredible aspect of the Walmart issue is, to me, the extreme simplicity of the solution. DO NOT SHOP THERE. The small groups of people who decide to protest store opening are completely ignorant to the fact that they are in the extreme minority.
Every day, millions of shoppers decide, of their own free will, to shop at a Walmart store. Denying these individuals this ability based on the concerns of a small group of people would be ridiculous.
I do not shop at Walmart if I can help it. I simply don’t like to. On the rare occasion that I need tent stakes and a gallon of lemonade at 2 a.m., guess where I go. To deny the ability of the American consumer to destroy a store with their pocketbooks is idiocy.
When is the last time you shopped at a Woolworth’s? People didn’t like the store, so they did not shop there. As if by magic, Woolworth’s is gone.
Anger over Walmart is just another example of those privileged enough to have the luxury to shop elsewhere, attempting to act as the conscience of the rest of society.
Mark Brockway is a political science senior.
Poll: Do you shop at Walmart, despite its unethical practices?
Decision on shopping centre deferred over size concerns - Cambridge News
Designs for a shopping centre at Orchard Park are "disappointing" and must be improved, councillors said.
South Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning committee was recommended to approve the application for seven shops off Chieftain Way at its meeting yesterday, but chose to defer its decision.
Cllr Yemi Macaulay, chairman of Orchard Park Community Council, told members a larger scheme had been approved in 2009, but had never been built, and that decent-sized shops were needed to ensure the development was sustainable.
He said: "This application is for a significantly smaller scheme in an area of Cambridge which is already poorly served by retail.
"It is a real disappointment to residents and the community council remains very concerned about the long-term viability of this smaller local retail centre."
The main convenience store would have been 1,377 sq ft (420 sq m) in size, similar to Iceland in Histon Road, and there would have been six further 229 sq ft (70 sq m) units.
The application also included 140 homes – 28 flats above the shops, 33 houses on either side, and a further 79 homes on the corner of Ringfort Road and Cambridge Road.
Cllr Macaulay said insufficient open space was being provided on site, and argued funds being offered as an alternative were £100,000 short.
Cllr David McCraith, a member of the committee, said: "I would advocate the applicant goes away and talks a little bit more to the community council and comes back with something appropriate for the area."
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