Joland Giwa (Image: Gwent Police)
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A notorious gang leader who was handed a fresh start in south Wales after the government failed to deport him has admitted dealing heroin and crack cocaine again.
Joland Giwa, 36, first came to the UK aged 10 and went on to lead a Croydon-based gang known as ‘Don’t Say Nothing’, or ‘DSN’, terrorising streets across south London.
Criminal history
His offending stretches back more than 15 years. He received 27 months in February 2009 for a series of robberies and thefts, and after his release was placed in a bail hostel in Newport.
Authorities had tried to remove him from the country – Giwa is believed to be from either Nigeria or Sierra Leone – but no nation would accept him. Officials decided relocating him to Newport would sever his ties to the London criminal underworld.
He promised to change, but went on to carry out a terrifying robbery at a William Hill bookmakers in Ringland, earning a seven-and-a-half-year sentence in 2015.
Caught on an electric scooter
When Giwa was sentenced in April 2020 to four years and one month for drug trafficking, Cardiff Crown Court heard how plain-clothes officers had spotted him meeting a suspected drug user near a children’s park on West Street, Newport.
Tony Trigg, prosecuting, told the court: “The officers approached the defendant and intended to search him and he, in an obvious panic, started lashing his arms out at them in a determined attempt to escape.”
He added: “He managed to slip out of his jacket and he was chased by the four officers who caught up with him and they had to use PAVA spray to subdue him and he was handcuffed.”
Giwa had arrived at the scene on an electric scooter and was found carrying class A drugs with a potential street value of £4,700, along with £1,300 in cash and three mobile phones. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin, crack cocaine and cocaine, as well as possession of criminal property, resisting arrest and cannabis possession.
His representative, Scott Bowen, told the court: “He was released from prison on June 2019. He was living with his partner and their two children with a third on the way.”
Mr Bowen added: “The defendant had trouble signing on and he borrowed money from the wrong people. He was a drug runner for those more sophisticated than he. His best mitigation is his guilty plea at the first opportunity.”
Back before the courts
Giwa appeared at Cardiff Crown Court this week and pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin, possession with intent to supply crack cocaine, possession with intent to supply cocaine and possession of criminal property.
The offences took place in Risca on February 17. His sentencing has been adjourned to April 10 and he was remanded in custody.
