Four Black Country cocaine dealers jailed for £1 million County Lines operation across the West Midlands
Three men and a woman from the Black Country have been jailed for more than 25 years for their part in a £1m County Lines cocaine operation
Four people from the Black Country involved in the supply of more than £1 million of Class A drugs across the West Midlands have been jailed.
Roberto Cataldo, Parminder Grewal, Tomas Kiaulakys and Gabriele Trinkunaite all were involved in transporting blocks of cocaine across the country to be supplied to drug dealers.
In January last year, a car containing Cataldo and Trinkunaite was spotted driving back towards Birmingham from London.
Stopping at a car park in Coleshill, they met up with another car containing Grewal, where they were observed moving large packages between their cars before moving out in convoy.
West Midlands Police officers began pursuing them and, while Cataldo was able to evade capture, Grewal was stopped and arrested in Lichfield Road.
During the pursuit, Grewal threw a bag out of the window which was found to contain between three and four kilograms of cocaine, while another one-kilo block was found inside his car.
Later that day an officer tracked and stopped Cataldo driving towards Walsall, while Trinkunaite was picked up just over an hour later in a car being driven by Kiaulakys.
Ten packages, each containing one kilo of cocaine were found in this car, again stamped with "888", while phone messages from the four were examined revealing their plans to move and supply vast amounts of cocaine.
The ten blocks of cocaine seized from Trinkunaite and Kiaulakys are estimated to have a street value of £1,000,000, and all four were subsequently charged by officers from the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCWM).
The four were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on March 6 as follows:
Parminder Grewal, 24, of Pensnett Dudley: Jailed for five years and five months for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and dangerous driving.
Roberto Cataldo, 53, of Bentley Lane, Walsall: Jailed for six years and eleven months for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and dangerous driving.
Tomas Kiaulakys, 32, of Primrose Avenue, Wolverhampton: Jailed for five years and ten months for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
Gabriele Trinkunaite, 26, of Taylor Road, Wolverhampton: jailed for seven years and eight months for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
'Criminal gangs often use children to move drugs discreetly'
A spokesperson for WMP said: “Our ROCU officers carry out regular operations to identify and catch suspected drug dealers and break up organised crime gangs and County Lines networks.
“We always urge people to be aware of the risks young and vulnerable people face from being exploited by criminal gangs, who often use children to move drugs discreetly.
“This locks them into a life of crime and inflicts needless suffering and misery on them and their families.”
To find out more about how you can spot the signs, visit: Child criminal exploitation | Child abuse | West Midlands Police
