DRUGS GANG: Eight convicted over cocaine conspiracy that flooded Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire
Eight people have been convicted of conspiring to supply cocaine into Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, Dyfed-Powys Police have said.
The group brought high-purity cocaine into the two counties over a nine-month period, in what officers described as large-scale commercial trafficking.
The investigation began when a courier van was stopped by officers on the M4 near Pont Abraham, Carmarthenshire, on 8 August 2025.
Inside, police said they intercepted more than 1.6kg of high-purity cocaine, worth almost £190,000.
Further enquiries identified eight people involved in what the force called a complex conspiracy, ranging from suppliers and couriers to wholesale customers and local distributors.
Officers said Tommy Lee Jones, of Monkton, played a leading role as the head of the Pembrokeshire gang, sourcing multiple kilograms of cocaine from Cardiff suppliers Ahmed Al-Farraji and his associate Adam Noraddin.
According to the force, Jones would make regular contact with the suppliers before large cash payments were handed over, with the drugs then delivered in high-end cars from Bristol and Birmingham to rural locations in Pembrokeshire, including Stepaside, Lamphey, Hundleton and Monkton.
Police said Kalum Haines, Leon Haines and Zak Fecci were trusted members of the gang who took possession of drugs directly from the upstream suppliers and acted as distributors in Pembrokeshire.
Ryan Hare carried out the same role in Carmarthenshire and was identified as being responsible for organising the collection and delivery of the drugs seized on 8 August, officers said.
Usman Afsar was said to have acted as a courier, driving from Bristol to Pembrokeshire and meeting gang members riding e-bikes in Pembroke.
Detective Sergeant Mark Jones, of the force’s Serious and Organised Crime Team, said the case had been built over several months.
“After a number of months of enquiries, we built a case clearly evidencing that Ahmed Al-Farraji travelled from Cardiff to meet with Tommy Lee Jones in rural locations,” he said.
“Upstream supply couriers would also drive from Bristol to Pembrokeshire on these dates and supplied Tommy Lee Jones with large amounts of cocaine.”
He added: “These deliveries were then collected by loyal customers of his and distributed throughout two counties. We estimate that the total amount of controlled drugs handled by the gang between February and November 2025 was that of large-scale commercial trafficking.”
The defendants were arrested in a week-long operation, with warrants carried out in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Cardiff and Bristol.
The following people were convicted of conspiracy to supply class A drugs:
Tommy Lee Jones, 33, of Castle Quarry in Monkton; Ryan Hare, 27, of Heol Cae Pownd in Cefneithin; Kalum Haines, 22, of Woodland Park in Neyland; Leon Haines, 26, of Ashdale Lane in Pembroke; Zack Fecci, 20, of Hawkstone Road in Pembroke Dock; Ahmed Al-Farraji, 25, of Topaz Street in Cardiff; Usman Afsar, 41, of Woodborough Street in Bristol; and Adam Noraddin, 25, of Plas Nanthelyg in Cardiff.
The force said Jones, Hare, Kalum Haines, Leon Haines and Fecci admitted their involvement, while Al-Farraji, Noraddin and Afsar were found guilty after a six-week trial.
Officer in the case DC Sam Burson said the group had brought large quantities of drugs into local communities.
“These individuals have worked together as an organised criminal gang bringing large amounts of class A drugs into our towns and villages,” he said.
“They have shown an utter disregard to the safety of the communities in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, and contributed with the adverse effect that drugs have on the social and economic wellbeing of the places that we live and work.”
He added: “Through detailed and thorough investigative analysis, we have brought charges against and dismantled a group of people who thought they could profit from their criminal activity. The strength of evidence against them has, however, resulted with positive outcomes and the conviction of these individuals.”
The conviction comes weeks after a police watchdog raised concerns about how many organised crime threats the force was identifying, rating it only “adequate” in that area.
The defendants will be sentenced at a later date.
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DYFED-POWYS POLICE: Force rated only ‘adequate’ as inspectors raise alarm over organised crime
Police across southern Wales are spotting strikingly few organised crime threats compared with the rest of the country, a watchdog has warned.
And it comes even as the region boasts some of the highest numbers of raids and disruptions in England and Wales.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) looked at how Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent Police, South Wales Police and regional crime unit Tarian work together to fight serious and organised crime.
Its report, out today, found that by July last year the region had pinned down just 93 organised crime threats.
The next lowest region in England and Wales had found 219.
Even allowing for the fact that southern Wales is a small region, inspectors said, “this gap is concerning.”
It sits awkwardly next to the headline the forces have trumpeted — that Tarian logged 2,650 disruptions in the year to June 2025, the second highest of any regional crime unit in the country.
Inspectors said the region needed to find “more diverse types” of organised crime, warning it was too focused on crime gangs while missing dangerous individuals and other threats.
Two-thirds of the threats it did find were drug-related — a bigger share than the national average.
Dyfed Powys Police Officer raiding cannabis farmThe watchdog rated Tarian and South Wales Police as “good.” But it marked both Dyfed-Powys Police and Gwent Police only “adequate” — the second of four possible grades.
For Dyfed-Powys Police, which covers Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Powys, inspectors spelled out what was dragging the grade down.
The force’s specialist organised crime team could only handle one investigation at a time, the report found.
In one case, an operation “had made little progress for 12 months” — until the team was finally free to pick it up.
Inspectors also found some frontline officers were shaky on the basics, with a few “unfamiliar with basic” organised crime terms. The force also needed to do better at keeping tabs on crime bosses once they leave prison.
It wasn’t all bad for Dyfed-Powys. The report praised the force’s victim-first approach to fraud, a £3m pot from the police and crime commissioner to tackle serious violence, and 14 officers funded to take crime-prevention talks into schools and universities after the Welsh Government pulled its funding.
The force had also sharpened up its record-keeping, logging 822 disruptions in the year to June 2025, up from 541 the year before.
Specialist officers remove bags of Cannabis from a propertySouth Wales Police, which covers Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, fared better, earning a “good” grade.
The force had roughly doubled its disruptions, from 1,698 to 3,395 in a year — the biggest tally of any force in the region.
But even here inspectors sounded a note of caution, with analysts telling them there was “at times too much focus on hitting targets” — leading to some disruptions being logged that didn’t meet national standards.
Inspectors singled out the force’s “Clear, Hold, Build” projects — a tactic that floods a troubled area with police and partners, then works to keep crime down for good.
On one estate, the report found that after an 18-month project, calls to the control room fell by 67% and overall crime dropped by 28%.
At the time of the inspection, the force was planning two more such projects, in Swansea and Cardiff.
The Swansea project has since taken shape in Dyfatty, where a major crackdown launched last year cut anti-social behaviour by 69% and later saw empty shops reborn as a community hub.
The report lands as forces across the region keep hammering drug networks, including a multi-area operation that jailed a cocaine gang flooding south Wales with class A drugs and a string of dawn raids by South Wales Police’s organised crime team.
Tarian itself came in for praise. Set up in 2003, the unit became what inspectors believe may be the only regional crime team in England and Wales to hire a dedicated expert in artificial intelligence.
Assistant Chief Constable Gemma Morris, who leads Tarian, said much of the unit’s work was “necessarily covert and often unseen by the public.”
“This report provides an important opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of that work and the difference it makes in protecting our communities,” she said.
She said serious and organised crime “causes significant harm to our communities,” and thanked Tarian’s officers and staff, along with colleagues across the three forces and partner agencies.
ACC Morris said inspectors had recognised many of the unit’s strengths, “including our strong relationships with partners and our commitment to innovation.”
“At the same time, we acknowledge that there are areas where we must continue to improve, and we are already taking forward plans to address the recommendations identified,” she said.
She added: “Our focus remains firmly on protecting the public. We will continue to work closely with our regional forces and partners to disrupt organised crime, safeguard those most at risk, and ensure that offenders are brought to justice.”
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