Drug lord ran empire from Thailand luxury

NOW HE BEGINS 14-YEAR JAIL TERM AFTER DOWNFALL

- By ELIZABETH MACKLEY AND ED CHATTERTON (SWNSED)

Samuels was living it up in Thailand

A DRUGS lord used heroin and cocaine from Huddersfield and Bradford to supply the vast empire he ran with his money-laundering girlfriend while living it up in Thailand.

Vejay Samuels, 30, managed his profitable criminal venture in the UK while enjoying an extravagant lifestyle while on the run from police nearly 6,000 miles away.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Samuels and his partner Hannah Cwynar, 33, lived a life of luxury, spending their ill-gotten gains on plush flats and costly pursuits.

Photos show Samuels driving a speedboat and swimming with elephants during his eight-month stint in Thailand before his drug operation was dismantled by police.

Investigators found that he was the brains behind the conspiracy which flooded Nottingham streets with thousands of pounds worth of cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis.

The gang used two dedicated drug phone lines to distribute Class A and Class B drugs they'd procured from Yorkshire across the city between August 2022 and November 2023.