Cleveland Police Smash East Middlesbrough Cocaine Gang – Five Arrested!
Operation Blackberry Cracks Drug Ring Wide Open
A top crime-busting team from Cleveland Police’s Dedicated Drugs Unit and the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) have hauled in five more drug offenders. Leading the pack is Craig Turner, 24, who’s just been handed a tough three-year jail sentence for running a cocaine racket out of East Middlesbrough.
Turner, from Siddington Walk, was caught red-handed after officers watched the gang deal cocaine on ten different occasions early in 2025. Operation Blackberry revealed a high-volume drugs hotline taking thousands of calls in just two months.
Sentences Delivered: Crackdown Hits Hard
- Craig Turner, 24 – 3 years in prison for drug supply
- Stephen Garbutt, 42, Seaham – 2 years suspended, 150 hours unpaid work, plus 25 days rehab for conspiracy to supply cocaine
- Craig Turner, 45, Marton – 21 months suspended, 9 months rehab for conspiracy to supply cocaine
- Luke Turner, 22, Guisborough – sentencing expected March 2026 for supplying class A drugs
Youth Exploited in Poisonous Drug Network
Last November, 19-year-old Curtis Cremin from Hubbard Walk was locked up for four-and-a-half years. He was caught using the drugs hotline to supply class A drugs and, shockingly, groomed teenage boys to deliver drugs to customers. Also behind bars is 18-year-old Louie Leadbeater of Cargo Fleet Lane, sentenced to three years.
A formerly protected 17-year-old gang member has now turned 18 and been publicly named. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Laiton Hopkins from Cotswold Avenue received a two-year suspended sentence for cocaine supply.
Crackdown on Middlesbrough’s Crime Hotspots Intensifies
This is the SECOND gang smashed in East Middlesbrough’s Project Orme area by Cleveland Police and NEROCU. The force is getting tough under the Home Office’s Clear Hold Build initiative, aiming to purge hard-hit neighbourhoods of drug crime and violence.
