A DRUG dealer who helped supply millions of pounds worth of cocaine and heroin to South Wales has been jailed for almost 15 years after attempting to evade justice by fleeing to Spain.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Kertis Johnson, 41, used the encrypted EncroChat system under the username “BrownVelvet” to communicate with an upstream supplier in Merseyside, associates, and couriers while running a multi-kilo drugs operation.
Prosecutors said the conspiracy operated between October 2019 and June 2020 and involved the supply of around 72kg of cocaine, valued at about £2.6m at street level. The court was told Johnson also supplied between 1kg and 2kg of heroin, worth up to £34,000.
Investigators recovered messages from Johnson’s EncroChat handset which, the prosecution said, showed an organised crime group using stash houses and vehicles fitted with hidden compartments to store and transport the drugs. Areas impacted included Cardiff, Ely and Dinas Powys.
The encrypted chats also revealed Johnson was under pressure financially, with discussions indicating he owed around £210,000 to his upstream supplier. In one exchange, he claimed he and a co-conspirator had raised £201,000 and were seeking to recover the balance from other outstanding debts.
When a courier linked to the conspiracy was arrested in August 2020, Johnson left the UK and travelled to Spain. He remained on the run for four years before being detained by Spanish police on July 29, 2024. He was extradited to the UK on August 14, 2024.
The court heard Johnson has 11 previous convictions, including an earlier offence of conspiracy to supply cocaine, for which he received a nine-year prison sentence.
In mitigation, defence barrister Simon Csoka KC said Johnson was a “local distributor” moving several kilos at a time and argued it was not a “huge network”. He told the court Johnson had shown insight into his offending and had reached a “turning point” in his life.
But Judge Eugene Egan said Johnson had played a leading role in a “relatively sophisticated” conspiracy.
Johnson, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and was sentenced to a total of 14 years and eight months imprisonment.
