West Midlands men jailed for drug and firearms dealing

Two West Midlands men have been jailed for dealing drugs and firearms.

Max Williams from Wolverhampton and Daniel Morgan from Birmingham tried to hide their dealings by communicating behind encrypted phone chats.

They were arrested as part of West Midland Police’s Operation Target, an international investigation tackling serious crime in the region.

Williams was found guilty of supplying class A and B drugs and supplying firearms and ammunition and was sentenced to 24 years. Morgan pleaded guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The pair used EncroChat, a phone messaging service, because they believed the messages could not be seen by police and regularly communicated using anonymous user handles to avoid identification.

Images found on the pair’s phones included a semi-automatic handgun which was swapped with another firearm for around £15,000 and a block of cocaine stamped with the word ‘Paris’.

Williams was found to be a broker in firearms, ammunition and Class A drugs, and the decoded messages showed that he dealt in ammunition, semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons.

The trial, which ended on May 2, heard the men were also involved in buying and selling large quantities of drugs, including cocaine, heroin and MDMA.

Morgan was arrested on 10 December 2020 when cocaine and heroin valued at over £5,000 and around £85,000 in cash were recovered from an address he used in Tyndale Crescent, Birmingham.

Williams was arrested at his home in Sambrook Road, Wolverhampton, on 11 December 2020 and a number of phones were seized.

Det Ch Ins Peter Cooke from the force’s regional organized crime unit said: “This was a highly complex investigation which saw us break into a supply chain of both firearms and drugs.

“Our commitment to take guns and drugs off our streets as Op Target continues at full strength.”