“I want you to move 50 kilos a week, don’t talk about 1” – London crime boss gets 25 years for running drug ring from prison

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Who said prison is the end of the road for a criminal? For most it is either the beginning of a long criminal career or simply a change of venue. Case in point 42-year-old Darryl Tawiah, of Southwark London, who was already serving an 18-year sentence for narcotics and weapons trafficking when he was arrested and charged by National Crime Agency officers last year for organizing drug deals and money laundering from his cell.

Tawiah (photo above) was jailed for 25 years on Wednesday alongside associates who helped him fix deals on the outside and launder the profits. He frequently used phones in prison to contact a drug supplier based in the Netherlands, who himself had previously been convicted for importing cocaine after an NCA investigation.

Following his early release from prison, the Dutch drugs trafficker was deported to the Netherlands and became the subject of a separate Dutch investigation. Conversations captured between the two showed Tawiah was sourcing cocaine wholesale and arranging their onward distribution and sale.

Working with people within the UK and the Netherlands, Tawiah’s group is believed to have been behind at least two tons of drugs imported into the UK and sold across London and the South East.

“I need to get more money in”

In one conversation the Dutch supplier told Tawiah: “I want you to move 50 [kilos] a week, don’t talk to me about one”, to which Tawiah replied, “No problem Bro…now that it is good, everybody is calling…..I need to get more money in…”

Further conversations showed Tawiah talking about buying cocaine at bulk prices and that he had a desire to sell ‘coffee’ when he left prison, which is slang for heroin. He also asked the supplier if he had ever heard of “2C” because “everybody’s asking for it in the West End, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Chelsea…”.

2C was a reference to liquid GHB, which has been used in instances of ‘date rape’.

Outside connections

Tawiah controlled a number of people on the outside, one of which was 37-year-old Steven Johnson, of Farlington Place, London. He took delivery of the drugs on Tawiah’s instructions and distributed them across London.

10434435494?profile=RESIZE_710xFrom left to right: Ali Reza Shokrolahi, Rosemond Agyemang, Dorian Vaciulis, Faisal Guled, Steven Johnson, Darryl Tawiah

59-year-old Rosemond Agyemang was a courier handling the cash side of the operation, and helped to launder it through bank accounts. She also made various cash payments to the Dutch supplier’s people in the UK.

She was arrested outside Oval station in London in July 2019 and was found to be carrying thousands in cash at the time. At the time of her arrest she was on her way to meet Dorian Vaciulis, a 34-year-old from Feltham, London, who was working for the Dutch supplier and responsible for collecting both cash and drugs.

He was in regular contact with co-conspirator Ali Reza Shokrolahi. Aged 41, Shokrolahi, also from London, was operating as a lorry driver for the group and was linked to at least 30 kilograms of cocaine seized at the UK border.

Tawiah, Vaciulis, Johnson, Agyemang and other alleged co-conspirators were arrested in March last year and were charged with various offences relating to Class A drugs and money laundering.

As the investigation continued, a further man was identified and arrested for his links to the group. 34-year-old Faisal Guled, a Dutch national living in Camden, London, worked for the Dutch supplier and was operating a county line selling drugs across London and Northampton.

On Wednesday, April 20, Tawiah, Johnson, Vaciulis and Guled were sentenced collectively to 70 years in prison after pleading guilty following a newton hearing. Agyemang was given a one year sentence at the same court last year. Shokrolahi fled while on bail and was not present at the hearing.

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