Island 'safer place' after drug 'kingpin' jailed
IOM POLICEThe Isle of Man is a "safer place" following the jailing of a "kingpin" in a local drug trafficking gang, police have said.
Jamie Smith, 38, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for playing a leading role in the importation and selling of both cocaine and cannabis on the island.
He was arrested in December 2024 after an investigation saw a recording device installed in his hotel room at the Comis Hotel in Mount Murray revealing his level of involvement in drugs trafficking on the island.
Det Insp Jamie Tomlinson said Smith was the "most prolific drug dealer the island has seen" and his conviction "represents a major success for the island".
Smith's operations were "exploiting the vulnerable and profiting from their harm", he said.
Investigations had linked Smith to the importation of up to £249,000 of cocaine to the Isle of Man in October 2023, which had been concealed in a tyre, Douglas Courthouse heard on Thursday.
Career drug dealer
Tomlinson said Smith had started dealing in his teenage years and went on to built working relationships with members of Merseyside criminal gangs.
They included Liam Dunne, who was sentenced earlier in January to 12 years for plots to import heroin, cannabis, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) vapes - one of which involved the use of a fishing boat.
Smith had been "orchestrating criminal activity from a distance and using others to carry out his instructions," Tomlinson said, and was a "career drug dealer who believed he would not be caught".
"I do not exaggerate when I say that he is possibly the most prolific drug dealer the island has seen," he said.
"There is no doubt he would have continued to bring Class A and Class B controlled drugs into the community on a frequent and large scale.
"The island is a safer place with him behind bars for a significant period," Tomlinson added.
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