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Gang jailed over guns and drug operation able to making 'tens of thousands' of pills per hour
The gang produced millions of counterfeit diazepam tablets worth up to £288 million and supplied deadly firearms, receiving nearly 50 years of combined prison sentences, police said.
- GMP jailed four gang members after a probe by Greater Manchester Police Serious Organised Crime Group uncovered an industrial-scale tablet manufacturing set-up in Wigan.
- Operation Venetic evidence prompted investigators to probe EncroChat-linked handles, notably `Fallensoda`, revealing messages that facilitated firearms and counterfeit tablet production.
- After surveillance, warrants executed on properties found an industrial-scale tablet system in a cottage behind John Eric Spiby 's home, a Chaddock Lane shipping container, and a hire van intercepted with counterfeit tablets and seized firearms.
- John Eric Spiby was jailed at Bolton Crown Court on Tuesday, and Detective Inspector Alex Brown said `The sentences should serve as a clear warning: organised crime will not be tolerated`, pledging continued disruption.
- The combined drugs-and-firearms model, with a bulk value between £7.2m and £12.9m, was linked to the supply of firearms, including automatic weapons and ammunition, posing a broader public safety threat.
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Salford man and his father jailed over "industrial scale" drugs operation
A man from Salford who was part of an organised crime gang manufacturing millions of pounds worth of drugs on an “industrial scale” has been jailed for nine years, along with his dad. John Colin Spiby Jr, 37, of Britannia Street in Pendleton, was one of four men handed prison sentences totalling 47 years for producing counterfeit diazepam tablets containing etizolam – a banned depressant more potent than Valium – and firearms offences. He denied…
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