16 HEROIN DEALERS CAUGHT IN UNDERCOVER OPERATION

SIXTEEN members of a gang that peddled heroin in a seaside resort have been
jailed after a year-long undercover police operation that was praised by a
judge for the "skill and courage" of the officers involved.

Dorset police said the arrests had led to a significant fall in crimes in
Weymouth, particularly burglaries and thefts from motor vehicles.

Operation Oasis, which culminated in raids on 28 addresses last August,
involved three undercover officers who posed as drug users to trap the dealers.

The officers infiltrated the gang by befriending small-time dealers at the
bottom of the chain in local pubs and clubs. They secretly filmed deals to
trap the suppliers as they worked their way up the ladder.

Most of the dealers were heroin addicts. "Heroin controlled their lives,"
said Det Chief Insp Colin Stanger, head of Dorset drugs squad. "Every
moment of their day they were on the make, to get the gear, to supply it or
to use it. The challenge now is to keep heroin out of the town."

Police were yesterday celebrating their success after 14 men and two women
received jail sentences of between two and six years. Three others were
given deferred sentences.

Det Chief Insp Ivor Graham, who oversaw the investigation, said: "This was
a long operation that reflected the tenacity and effort put in by all
involved. We seized controlled drugs equating to about 1,400 individual
heroin deals. Several thousand pounds worth of cash and assets were also
seized."

The dealers were sentenced at Dorchester Crown Court after admitting a
large number of drug supplying offences.

Judge John Beashel said there were 30 deaths caused by heroin in Dorset
every year. "I would like to commend the hard work, indeed the quality of
the work and the preparation in this case," he said. "I suspect it was the
attention to detail that led to many of the defendants pleading guilty."

The longest sentence of six-and-a-half years was given to Lee Grainger, 29,
a builder who moved to Weymouth from Middlesbrough three years ago. He was
said to be the gang leader, and sold one of the undercover officers
quantities of heroin.

Two men, described as Grainger's "lieutenants" - Ian McNichol, 48, of
Clayton Close, Weymouth, and Richard Pitts, 43, from Bournemouth - were
each jailed for five years for supplying Class A drugs.