Drug courier is told to pay back just £1k

A DRUG courier working for an organised crime group who transported £3m worth of drugs has been ordered to pay back £1,000 despite benefiting by £40,000.

- PHILIP DEWEY

Nathaniel Armani delivered 11kg of cocaine, 603kg of cannabis, and £1.7m in cash for the London-based gang.

At the request of Welsh officers, Armani was stopped by colleagues on a motorway in the north of England and was found with £200,000 hidden in his Audi car along with a phone full of incriminating messages and photos.

The defendant was caught thanks to an investigation into the supply of Class A and B drugs in south Wales led by Tarian, the southern Wales regional organised and serious crime squad.

The investigation, codenamed Operation Tender, showed a London-based crime gang was behind the wholesale supply of multi-kilo quantities of cocaine and cannabis throughout the UK.