Drug gang jailed for sending £2.2m of medicine by way of Royal Mail parcels throughout the UK
Three blokes have been put behind bars after coppers busted a ‘highly sophisticated’ mail order drugs racket.
Iain Potter, Jack Wright, and Ross Fathi orchestrated the ‘industrial-scale’ operation from a distribution centre in Edenfield, Bury, utilising the Royal Mail to ship thousands of drug parcels to their clientele.
The depot was equipped with packing stations, vacuum sealing devices, label printers, and hundreds of Royal Mail sacks ready for shipment. When the cops stormed the facility they uncovered an astonishing assortment of illicit substances including cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis resin, THC edibles and more, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Royal Mail logs showed the gang had dispatched 1,724 parcels between February and April 2025, each weighing between 0.1kg and 10kg. Every parcel bore a bogus return address in a bid to cover their tracks should they be intercepted by the police.
Coppers reckon the gang delivered at least 19kg of cocaine, among drugs worth a total of £2.2m. Encrypted mobiles and £13,000 in cash were also confiscated.
Potter and Wright were nicked in Ramsbottom in April 2025 after being pulled over with a suitcase containing 5kgs of skunk.
Raids at their properties uncovered additional drugs and packaging materials, including MDMA, ketamine, LSD, and cocaine. The gang’s courier and packer Fathi – who operated under the pseudonym ‘A Sam Poland A’ – was detained at the Edenfield unit and subsequently connected to the conspiracy via encrypted messaging applications.
Potter, 45, of Sefton Drive, Liverpool; and Wright, 30, of Westgate Lane, Wakefield were both imprisoned for 11 years and four months for conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Fathi, 46, of Wingfield Drive, Wilmslow was handed six years behind bars for identical charges.
Det Con Liam Smith from GMP’s Serious Crime Division said: “This was an organised criminal enterprise on an industrial scale, they would act as a legitimate outfit, flooding drugs via parcels throughout the country.
“Potter, Wright and Fathi would use encrypted devices, fake addresses, and sophisticated packaging methods to try and evade detection.
“The quantity of drugs involved, and the planning shows they weren’t small time dealers, they ran a criminal outfit who were looking to maximise profits on a daily basis.
“[This week’s] sentencing sends a clear message: if you choose to engage in drug supply, we will find you, dismantle your network, and bring you to justice.”
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