'TIGERS' CAGED

16 MEMBERS OF MULTI-MILLION POUND DRUGS GANG ARE JAILED AFTER UNDERCOVER POLICE OPERATION BRINGS THEM TO JUSTICE

- By DAMON WILKINSON

A MASSIVE organised crime gang who trafficked millions of pounds of 'high-purity' cocaine branded with a distinctive tiger logo have been brought down by undercover cops.

A total of 16 members of the Middleton-based OCG who supplied drugs across the north of England are now behind bars after a threeyear investigation by Greater Manchester Police's serious organised crime squad.

Their downfall came after cops launched '13 simultaneous strikes' on homes across Greater Manchester this summer.

Det Sgt Mark Rigby described the operation as an 'exhaustive investigation' which is testament to 'years of hard work! The gang's kingpins Jonathan Smith and Louis Cleworth first came to the police's attention when undercover cops found they were in regular contact with James Mulligan, head of the notorious Mulligan crime family from Tameside. The day after Mulligan was arrested in October 2021, Smith went to ground.

He stopped using his mobile phone and appeared to stop using his car, as it was no longer getting picked up by the police's automatic number plate recognitions systems.

In fact the gang had replaced him with Jacob Smith, who took over his courier role.

But by March 2022, believing the police investigation had hit a wall following Mulligan's arrest, Jonathan Smith swaggered back to work.

However unbeknown to him, police had his entire gang under surveillance. Between September 1, 2021 and July 20, 2022, when police launched the raids on gang members' homes, it's thought they were responsible for moving at least 75 kilos of high purity cocaine, with an estimated street sale value of £7.5m.

But the total amount is thought to be far higher.

Police say the gang had customers based across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and West Yorkshire.

Detectives gathered evidence of around 150 deliveries that were made from Middleton.