Man who led police to £100,000 stash, convicted at Manchester Crown Court

A drug dealer was jailed for eight years for drug offences and money laundering at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday, October 13.

Gavin Kelly, jailed for eight years Source: Greater Manchester Police Website

Gavin Kelly, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply and money laundering.

The 36 year-old of Rochdale Road, Blakely, lead police officers to discover a drug stash in his apartment worth £100,000 in total, on 24th August 2016.

A warrant was issued to search Mr Kelly’s flat, Greater Manchester Police state that when asked if there is anything the police should be made aware of, he said: “Yes, obviously, upstairs in the flat… the coke.”

Police Officers were directed by Mr Kelly to a cupboard in the kitchen where he pointed at a big plastic box, containing approximately one kilogram of cocaine, GMP say the cocaine found has a wholesale value of £35,000 to £50,000 and a street value of more than £100,000.

He then pointed at a shopping bag in the corner which contained £70,000 to be exact.

Greater Manchester Police recovered further amounts of cocaine after thoroughly searching the flat, uncovering cocaine with an approximate street value of £3,000, electronic scales, and a money counter, as well as numerous mobile phones.

Goods recovered by police at Kelly’s apartment Source: Greater Manchester Police website

An Audi A6 TDi worth approximately £20,000, parked outside of Mr Kelly’s apartment, was then seized by the police, as well as several high value watches with a total value of £29,000.

Detective Sergeant Andrew Buckthorpe of GMP’s Challenger Organised Crime Unit, said: “Kelly is an audacious individual who benefited from drugs, which cause so much destruction to people’s lives.

“Today, he has been sentenced to eight years and is safely behind bars, unable to cause any further damage to society and unable to continue the luxurious lifestyle he had become accustomed to.

“I’d like to thank all the officers involved in this case for their hard work and dedication to bring down people who think they are above the law.”

Appeal from Greater Manchester Police after house shot at in Worsley

Officers are appealing for information after a house was shot at in Worsley, Salford.

Shortly before 1.40am on Saturday morning, October 16 police were called to reports of shots being fired on Hilton Lane.

On arrival officers discovered damage to a window which was consistent with a shotgun discharge.

No one was injured in the incident.

Detective Inspector Kenny Blain, from GMP’s Salford borough, said: “This could have had devastating consequences especially because there were two young children in the house at the time.

“Thankfully no one was injured but this would have been extremely frightening for the family.

“We are treating it as a targeted attack and have been carrying out house-to-house enquiries in the area.

“I would like to reassure the public we are doing everything possible to find those responsible and have extra patrols in the area.

“I would urge anyone with any information about this to please contact police.”

Information can be passed on to police by calling 101. Alternatively, if you wish to remain anonymous you can call 0800 555 111.

Don’t get trapped in the web, GMP campaign warns

9972 cybercrimes have been recorded by Greater Manchester Police between April 2014 and May 2016, with the biggest increases witnessed in blackmail, harassment and child sexual activity.

To warn the public of cybercrime and prevent people of becoming victims, GMP is launching a new campaign, #trappedintheweb, which highlights the potential dangers we come across every day, but not pay attention to, on the Internet.

Detective Chief Inspector Danny Inglis said: “This campaign looks at what people can do to stay safe online and asks them to pause and think before sharing any personal data online – the vast majority of people and businesses online are trustworthy but being wary when using online services helps people stay even safer.

“A really simple rule to follow is that if you wouldn’t do it in real life, then don’t do it online”, he added.

Cybercrime is recognised as one of the fastest growing crimes in the UK with numerous ways to “trap people in the web” – from identity theft, to sextortion, to fraud and human trafficking, to ransomware.

When Zornitsa Doncheva, 22, from Salford, first saw the ransomnote pop on her screen, she thought a friend was joking around.

“It was when I tried to get rid of the message, that I saw that all the files on my desktop had been encrypted and I had no access to any of them. Not a photo, not an audio file, not even the essay I was due to submit by the end of the week!”, Miss Doncheva said.

Not only isn’t your PC fully protected, but hackers can also infect your phone, tablet and almost any other device, simply by sending you an email attachment that seems harmless at first, until you are being blackmailed for money to get access to your own data.

Miss Doncheva said: “Eventually, I ended up buying a new lap top as I couldn’t use mine any more, but I am glad that at least the money didn’t go to those criminals, as that would only have encouraged them to continue blackmailing people.

“Ever since, I always make sure to update my antivirus program regularly and always back up my data on a separate device”, she added.

Mr Ali Dehghantanha, a senior lecturer in Cyber Security at the University of Salford, said: “There is nothing called a strong enough protection! In reality, a software that cannot be hacked still doesn’t exist and no Internet user is ever completely safe online.

“Attackers need only one loophole to get in while users should defend all venues.”

As part of the campaign, posters, ads and social media posts will circulate the messages of warning across Greater Manchester, highlighting the various dangers and threats Internet users face. GMP aims to inform people and prevent them from becoming victims of cybercrime.