Four men who distributed crack cocaine and heroin in Southampton have been jailed for 30 years

The notorious network known as AZ established two safe houses in the city to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

Couriers, based in London, were on occasions making more than one trip a day to the city to satisfy demand.

Southampton Crown Court heard the estimated value of the drugs was at least £500,000 and involved in excess of five kilos of crack cocaine and heroin.

Prosecutor Adam Feest said the network, run by Alizan Bockhari and Sandeep Panesar, was highly organised.

“A large number of street runners were recruited and used at different periods. Multiple telephones and SIM cards were used, with the numbers being changed at regular intervals,” he said.

The court was told how different levels of security were applied to different phones depending on what they were used for.

Orders were made by users known to AZ – often after messages had been sent to users advertising the availability of particular drugs.

Contact would then be made with local dealers, who then contacted street dealers who would arrange the sale.

Most deals were for £10 or £20, the court was told, however much bigger supplies of drugs would have been transported to Southampton to satisfy demand.

“This involved very frequent journeys from London to Southampton, usually daily and sometimes twice daily. Money would have been taken back in the other direction.”

Mr Feest said the men were arrested after police launched a major investigation, codenamed Operation Mohican, that arose from a similar inquiry.

Two undercover officers, identified only as Ivan and John, made untargeted approaches to street dealers in Southampton.

Twenty-two purchases were made with both drugs being bought from 13 street runners operating for the network. Of them, seven had been convicted of their roles, he added.

“It is of note and indicative of the extent of the network that on all but two of the deployments by the undercover officers both heroin and crack cocaine were available for purchase with no restriction on how many wraps they could buy.”

Panesar was arrested in bed at his home with three phones beside him. Two were ‘dirty’ phones used by customers while the third was the network administration line. Bockhari’s phone was found to contain more than 100 drug supplying text messages.

One courier, Muninder Singh, was arrested driving to work when four wraps of cocaine were found in his car, and another, Parmjit Dhalwali, was arrested at work.

All four men, who had London addresses, pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply between January 1, 2013, and January 31, 2014.

• ALIZAN BOCKHARI - 10 Years

Alizan Bockhari, who had 34 convictions for 52 offences, many of them drug-related, was jailed for ten years.

The prosecution viewed him as the head of the organisation, selling on a commercial scale, controlling customer and administration phones, and employed others within the chain over whom he had influence.

There was nothing to indicate he had a legitimate income but police sized iPhones, iPads and jewellery receipts at his home. A black Subaru Impreza was parked on his drive. He refused to answer questions in interview.

Judge Peter Henry said he had been involved in the conspiracy at the highest level and had played a leading role in establishing and running the “sophisticated” operation for financial reward.

• SANDEEP PANESAR - Eight years, six months

Sandeep Panesar, 34, provided a prepared statement when interviewed, claiming he was “a bona fide businessman”.

He admitted using cocaine and claimed his trips to Southampton had been to see a woman he was dating at the time.

But the judge, who heard he had ten previous convictions, told him he had played a significant role and had taken over from Bockhari.

“You came to Southampton, not just as a courier but also in a management role,” he said.

He was jailed for eight-and-a-half years.

• MUNINDER SINGH - Five years

Muninder Singh, 27, made at least 156 trips to Southampton over the 149-day period between March and August 2013.

On 20 days he made two trips a day from London. Though disqualified, he used two different vehicles as a courier, often driving at night after finishing his shift at Heathrow Airport.

He also tried to pass off his visits to Southampton as being to see a woman.

Jailing him for five years, the judge said had been a willing participant and had some awareness of the scale of the operation.

• PARMJIT DHALWALI - Four years, eight months

Parmjit Dhalwali, 28, made 45 visits to Southampton on 38 days, using three different vehicles, two registered to him and one to his girlfriend.

The prosecution contended that he played a similar role to Singh’s.

He was jailed for four years and eight months, the judge telling him: “This is a serious offence and you brought dangerous drugs to Southampton.”

He had no drug convictions.