A GANG who brought at least £50,000-worth of heroin to Newport from Bristol were jailed for a total of 34 years.

Andrew Carl Williams, Shahid Hussein, Fraseth Ali, Aleem Ali and Veejay Singh were arrested as part of Operation Bextor, set up to target the trafficking of class A drugs in Gwent.

Between February 16 and 23, officers from Gwent Police Organised Crime Unit used automatic number plate recognition technology and monitored mobile phone exchanges between the men before they were arrested in the Malpas area of Newport.

Nearly half a kilogram of heroin, with a street value of nearly £50,000, was recovered as part of the operation.

Williams, 28, and Fraseth Ali, 27, pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply heroin at an earlier hearing, while Hussein, Aleem Ali and Veejay Singh were found guilty after trial.

Judge Philip Richards, who sentenced the group last Friday, said the men had “a sophisticated plan”.

He commended the work of the team who investigated the conspiracy, praising it as “policing of the highest quality”

and paid tribute to the professionalism of the lead officer, adding: “This case was detected by careful and painstaking work carried out with immense efficiency.”

Andrew Carl Williams, of Maesglas Road, Newport, was jailed for six years; Shahid Hussein, 39, of Cranbrook Road, Bristol, got nine years in prison; and Fraseth Ali, of Downend Road, Bristol, was given a five-year sentence.

Aleem Ali, 25, of Chesterfield Road, Bristol, was sentenced to six years; while Veejay Singh, 27, of Fishponds Road, Bristol, was jailed for eight years.

DCI Jon Evans said the sentences, which come a week after another drug gang was jailed for a total of nearly 20 years, should serve as another warning to those who deal harmful drugs in Gwent.

He said: “Sooner or later we will catch up with you and, working with the Crown Prosecution Service, we will look to prosecute to the full extent of the law.

“This is another positive result for the Organised Crime Unit and the more information provided to us by members of the public the more we can do to rid communities of those criminals who cause pain and suffering to others.”