A CRIMINAL whose girlfriend imported drugs from Jamaica to a Somerset address has been jailed for 11 years and seven months.

Dennis Obasi, 27, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at Swindon Crown Court to conspiracy to supply Spice into prisons, being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine and possession of criminal property.

While an inmate at Peterborough Prison and after his release, Obasi conspired with then girlfriend Emily MacArthur, 31, previously of Trowbridge, to smuggle drugs into prisons including Peterborough and Bristol.

They used fake stamps to produce bogus confidential legal letters coated with spice, concealed drugs within packages for prisoners, and used prison visitors to smuggle drugs inside.

The investigation into the pair began when UK Border Force officers stopped three parcels from Jamaica addressed to MacArthur at properties in Frome and Bristol. They all contained cocaine.

Obasi and MacArthur were arrested in February 2020 in a flat in Trowbridge, where they produced substantial quantities of Spice.

Officers seized £50,000 worth of spice powder, 116 sheets of paper soaked in spice – worth around £48,000 in prison – six bottles of acetone, 1.86kg of marshmallow leaves, fake stamps, envelopes and letters.

Officers found nearly 23,000 messages between Obasi and MacArthur on his mobile, many describing how to smuggle drugs into prisons.

The operation involved the South West Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) and the Metropolitan Police, supported by UK Border Police the Prison Service and Avon and Somerset, Wiltshire and Thames Valley Police.

The Met's PC Alex Furniss said: “The messages...showed that Obasi would supply MacArthur with names and prisoner numbers for those who wanted to receive or were prepared to accept Spice-infused letters.

“The messages also showed lengthy exchanges about the methods being used by MacArthur to make Spice, plus their desire to make large profits from their enterprises.”

Less than a month after Obasi’s release, he became involved in county lines drug dealing, recruiting vulnerable drugs runners from a flat in Bristol and later Abingdon. More than £5,000 worth of crack cocaine and heroin and £6,000 in cash was seized during that investigation.

In Abingdon, officers discovered a 'cuckooed' address, with two boys aged 14 and 17 working as drugs runners.

DCI Charlotte Tucker, from SWROCU, said: “Obasi's offending shows his willingness to exploit anyone, in any way, in pursuit of his own profits, regardless of the exploitation and harm that has caused. The guilty pleas are testament to the strength of evidence we collectively gathered against him."

MacArthur has admitted conspiring to supply spice into prisons and importing cocaine, but she has gone on the run.