Drug dealer jailed after fleeing to Spain to avoid justice

A drug dealer who supplied more than £2 million worth of heroin and cocaine to the streets of South Wales has been jailed for nearly 15 years after fleeing to Spain in a desperate attempt to avoid justice.

Kertis Johnson, 41, used the encrypted EncroChat platform under the handle “BrownVelvet” to communicate with an upstream dealer based in Merseyside, co-conspirators, and downstream couriers whilst running his multi-kilo drug operation.

Scale of the operation

Cardiff Crown Court heard that between October 2019 and June 2020, Johnson was involved in supplying a staggering 72kg of cocaine, with a street value of approximately £2.6 million. He also supplied between 1kg and 2kg of heroin, worth up to £34,000.

Messages discovered on his EncroChat device revealed the organised crime group used stash houses and vehicles with hidden compartments to conceal the drugs as they flooded areas including Cardiff, Ely, and Dinas Powys.

Massive debt and international manhunt

The encrypted messages also exposed Johnson’s precarious financial position, showing discussions with his upstream supplier about a debt of £210,000. On one occasion, he told the supplier that he and his co-conspirator had raised £201,000 and were hoping to collect the remainder from outstanding debts.

When his courier was arrested in August 2020, Johnson fled the UK for Spain. He remained at large for four years before Spanish police detained him on 29th July 2024. He was extradited back to the UK on 14th August 2024 to face justice.

Previous convictions

The court heard Johnson has 11 previous convictions, including a previous conspiracy to supply cocaine offence for which he received nine years imprisonment.

Mitigation and sentencing

Defence barrister Simon Csoka KC argued his client was a “local distributor” dealing several kilos at a time, claiming this was not a “huge network”. He told the court Johnson has “considerable insight” into his offending and has “reached a turning point in his life”.

However, Judge Eugene Egan was unmoved, telling Johnson: “You played a leading role in the conspiracy to supply cocaine… This was a relatively sophisticated case.”

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.