Man hired best pal as a 'smackhead' collateral to collect £3m delivery of heroin and cocaine

A man hired his best friend as a ‘smackhead’ to collect a delivery of class A drugs worth over £3 million as part of a multi-million pound conspiracy.

Roy Evans, 34, was acting as a ‘lieutenant’ to a member of an organised crime group when a shipment from the Netherlands was intercepted by Border Force officials in May 2020.

After inspecting the 12 boxes, they found 50 blocks of heroin, seven blocks of cocaine and a block of cannabis.

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The estimated street value was £3.4 million, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The shipment was addressed to a unit on Cobden Street in Salford, and officers from Greater Manchester Police later made a controlled delivery.

Shortly after the boxes had been dropped off, David Astley, 35, was spotted opening them and was arrested at the scene.

He was found in possession of an electric fob which was used to activate the shutters at the unit, prosecutor Jonathan Dickinson said.

“He had two mobile phones which were also seized and examined, and the mobile phone data showed that the burner phone had received 37 calls over a 36-hour period from a phone number attributed to this defendant (Evans),” he said.

“Evans was arrested at Stepping Hill hospital and his phone was seized.

“Cell site information showed that his phone had been in the vicinity of the unit on Cobden Street on May 26.”

On May 27, Evans changed his phone number and sent a group message to his family and friends informing them of his new number - the same day as the controlled delivery, the prosecutor added.

Also on his phone were 290 voice recordings, 178 of which were between Evans and Sufryn Butt, nicknamed ‘Suf’, who is thought to be