British Olympic boxer Bradley Saunders has been questioned by police on suspicion of dealing cocaine

British Olympic boxer Bradley Saunders has been questioned by police on suspicion of dealing cocaine, it emerged on Tuesday.Saunders, 22, who was a big medal hope at the Beijing Games, was held after a police sniffer dog found what was believed to be £12,000 of the drug in his back garden.A warrant was executed at his semi-detached home in Cragside, Sedgefield, County Durham, at 1pm on Monday. The boxer was taken away for questioning with his girlfriend Stephanie Elliott, also 22, and the couple were held overnight at Spennymoor Police Station. A Durham Police spokesman said the couple were later released on police bail.The dog alerted officers to a tin which contained more than 300g of white powder. It was sent away for analysis.Saunders was tipped to bring back a gold medal from the summer games and was criticised after he said he was relieved to be going home to his young family after a shock defeat in his second fight.

Julian Tavernier jailed for six years for a failed drug smuggling bid.

Julian Tavernier, 29, returned to Durham today to hear the criminal proceeds ruling almost six months after being jailed by the same court for six years for the failed drug smuggling bid. The earlier hearing, in March, was told Tavernier, whose family originates in the Dominican Republic, concealed the class A drug stash in a biscuit tin posted to his then girlfriend, in County Durham, from the Caribbean island in late August last year. Police intercepted the package after being tipped off by Customs officials when it arrived at Gatwick Airport among mail from the Dominican Republic. The parcel was re-sealed and sent on to the intended address, in Seaham.
An under-cover officer posing as a parcel delivery driver called at the house, in Bethune Avenue, where Cheryl Pattison signed for the package. Police raided the house five minutes later and arrested Pattison and her sister, Kirsty Mackay, who tried to flee from the back door with the package. Tavernier, Pattison's partner at the time, was later arrested on his return to the country.
Tavernier, then 28, Pattison, 29, and her sister, 25-year-old Kirsty Mackay all admitted being concerned in the importation of a prohibited drug. Pattison and Mackay were each jailed for five years for their part in the crime. Although the court was yesterday told Tavernier's estimated benefits from the drug trade were £30,314, Judge John Evans was only able to order confiscation of the remaining £7,979 assets from the sale of the car.

Trevor Bowman member of a County Durham drugs gang who has been on the run from police for 11 years is now believed to be abroad

MEMBER of a County Durham drugs gang who has been on the run from police for 11 years is now believed to be abroad, a court was told yesterday.Police have been trying since 1997 to arrest Trevor Bowman on a judge's warrant, Teesside Crown Court was told.Bowman and four other men were convicted at Teesside Crown Court on April 16 1997 of being concerned in the supply of cannabis. Bowman disappeared before he could be sentenced but the others were jailed for between 12 months and three years.
Prosecutor Shaun Dodds said it was believed that Bowman is abroad.The hearing was adjourned for another year to try to trace Bowman, whose last known address was Hollyhurst Road, West Cornforth.

Robert Henson and Peter Thirlaway are in jail for a total of 71 years after flooding Tyneside with up to half a ton of cannabis and heroin a week.

drug baron Robert Henson and his international supply ring was smashed.The 59-year-old and his associates are in jail for a total of 71 years after flooding Tyneside with up to half a ton of cannabis and heroin a week.At the centre of the operation were Henson, of Ancroft Garth, in High Shincliffe, County Durham, and his right-hand man Peter Thirlaway, 38, who lived in a caravan park in Whitley Bay.They referred to cannabis resin as “wood”, heroin as “fluff” and to them money was “bananas”. Their “gear” was always stamped with distinctive fish, or 1 logos.Police tracked the pair and listened in as they met regularly to set up transactions with their foreign contact, “Spanish Billy”, and the man bringing heroin into the North East, Samir Dahou.In one breath Henson would boast he had stock of more than £600,000 and a turnover of £1.5m, then in the next he would call in drug debts to raise £100,000s for new shipments.Police first came close to the ring on July 18 last year when £87,500-worth of heroin was uncovered in a car driven by drug addict Dean Thomson, on the A1 near Teams, Gateshead.Fingerprints linked the stash to Samir Dahou.
On August 14 Henson was still conducting business as usual. Despite growing fears he was being watched, he arranged to buy drugs with a wholesale value of £170,000.
By August 21 he was convinced he was going to take a police “hit” and he told Thirlaway to get rid of their mobiles.Despite his worries the operation continued. Thirlaway kept visiting Manchester for heroin from Dahou and tons of cannabis continued to pour in from foreign shores.At the start of September Henson was recorded saying he was doing three more deals before giving up the drugs trade for good and taking his wife to live abroad.Just a week later a team of officers tracked Thirlaway on the train from Manchester. They confronted him at Newcastle’s Central Station and he instantly owned up to carrying £22,000 of heroin, five mobile phones, and more than £2,500 cash.A second team followed John Rae, a scrapyard owner forced to run drugs to clear his gambling debts.He was watched carrying 100kg of cannabis resin, worth £284,000, from Henson’s drug hideout, in Winlaton Mill, Gateshead, to Bell Industrial Estate, Lemington, Newcastle. Police swooped on him there.Gang member Sean Hewitson, of Rotherford Street, Wallsend, who also brought heroin into the region from Manchester, was another who had nowhere to run when police tracked him down.Henson was picked up at his home. Meanwhile his daughter Amanda Elliot was arrested at her home, in Redwood Close, Hetton, County Durham. Police found more than £8,000 and $900 of drugs money hidden in her kitchen oven.In Manchester the sting closed in on Samir Dahou as police raided his home in Warrington.As officers stormed into his kitchen, the heroin dealer turned to his wife and said: “There’s something I need to tell you. I’ve been moving things. We needed the money.”
Two suitcases opened at the house had £1.5m of heroin and two semi-automatic guns with silencers inside.