How a teenage ‘drug lord’ who enjoyed luxury cars and 5-star hotels was caught by police after lengthy investigation

MORGAN Lee was caged for eight years last month following a lengthy investigation by Gwent Police’s specialist East Priority Tasking Team.

Although aged just 18, the defendant, of Swallow Way, Duffryn, Newport, had already been a hardened criminal for some years and was well known to officers.

Despite his youth, Lee was also an organised crime boss running his own crew.

He was caught with half a kilo of crack cocaine and half a kilo of heroin which had a combined street value of more than £45,000.

During his sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court, prosecutor Nicholas Gedge told of his ruthless streak: “Threats of significant violence were made over the enforcement of drug debts.”

One victim to fall foul of his vicious nature was a customer who Lee blamed after £10,000 of drugs went missing.

The court heard how the teen stormed into his bedroom naked with a Stanley knife and ran the blade up and down his face.

His victim escaped through his bedroom window and fled to his partner’s home “shaking and crying”.

Lee pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and affray.

The court heard he had a previous conviction for possession of heroin with intent to supply when he was just 17 and had breached a number of orders subsequently after being guilty of offences which included dangerous driving.

None of these previous offences attracted a custodial sentence, much to the surprise of Judge Jeremy Jenkins who told Lee he had he had gone around “acting like some big drug lord”.

He sent him to a young offender institution for eight years.

A Gwent Police detective constable, who has not been named, has revealed some of the background of the case and released images the defendant had on his phone boasting about his drug dealing and showing his contempt for the law.

Lee had posed surrounded by a pile of cash and standing on top of a police car and in an another, mocked up photograph of a van which advertised a spoof business called ‘Class A Cleaning Mr Washy’. This was a reference to how Lee was turning cocaine into crack cocaine, a process sometimes known as washing.

He told how it became clear Lee was ambitious to move up the underworld ladder from a young age and that his brazen behaviour only helped them bring him to justice. The detective said: “Organised crime is a complex structure with different people operating their own enterprise.

“A lot of these enterprises overlap with one another, some overlap without issue whilst others can cause friction. Morgan Lee had developed his own enterprise which fitted into this jigsaw.

“It is clear that Lee lived a life of criminality from a fairly young age. As he made money from drug supply, he would often spend it on hire cars and nights at luxury five-star hotels. It would give the appearance to his peers and the local community that he was a significant drug dealer, however in reality, it just gave police more evidence against him.”

The officer said it is essential that Gwent Police target drug dealers and stressed the vital role that communities play in bringing gangsters like him to justice.

He said: “Serious and organised crime poses a significant threat to everyone who lives and works in Gwent and exploits the most vulnerable members of society.

“It is vitally important that Gwent Police target individuals such as Morgan Lee to ensure that appropriate action is taken and the public are protected from harm.

“Lee’s sentence sends a clear message to anyone looking to emulate him that behaviour such as this will be robustly targeted by Gwent Police and partners.”

He added: “All of our work to tackle serious and organised crime is under our campaign Operation Jigsaw.

“We’d like to thank our communities and partners for their continued support – information we receive is vital to tackling serious organised crime in Gwent.

“Nobody knows their streets better than the communities that live there and I want to stress that if residents see something that either seems out of place or in most cases, if something just does not add up, then you can contact us and know it will be dealt with seriously.

“What may seems like a small detail to you, to Gwent Police, it could be the final piece to a much bigger puzzle.”

On the perils of the deadly drug trade, the officer added: “It can’t be over emphasised the danger of Class A drugs. In this case, the drugs in question were heroin and crack cocaine.

“Heroin is an extremely strong opiate. The opiate family, morphine being the more well-known members of the family, can be used as a pain-killer.

“Heroin is extremely addictive and users can be ‘hooked’ after only one or two doses due to the chemical reactions caused within the body.

“The majority of drugs deaths nationally are caused by heroin. Users can’t guarantee the content of the product that they buy, which makes it even more dangerous. Crack cocaine is also extremely addictive.”

During his sentencing the court heard how Lee was initially arrested on March 9 at Alicia Crescent in Newport where police found chemicals and equipment used to produce crack cocaine.

It was while he was released under investigation that he was involved in the affray in which he had used the knife against his customer on August 17.

The next day, officers went to Swallow Way where they found the defendant in a caravan with a woman at the back of a house.

They arrested him and seized cash, phones, and grip-seal bags.

On his Facebook profile the defendant had said he was “Class A” and starting a job at “Newport Wash”.

His phone was also found to contain messages asking others how many drugs they had sold and how much money they had taken as well as making threats.