Waterlooville gang leader serving 18 years in prison ordered to give up £45,000 of ill-gotten gains
A Waterlooville man behind a multi-million pound cocaine conspiracy has been ordered to give up £45,000 of assets.
Louis Edwards, 46, previously of Churchill Close, was jailed for 18 years and five months in September 2023 after being extradited from Benidorm where he had fled to in 2022.
Following on from that conviction, a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002 Confiscation Hearing took place at Winchester Crown Court on July 8 where he was ordered to hand over £45,801, the value of his current assets. This is despite having made £2,884,995.99 from supplying cocaine to Portsmouth and the surrounding area, as well as transferring criminal property.
Edwards offences took place between March 2018 and May 2020 where over the course of a five-year police investigation, the Serious and Organised Crime Unit seized around £300,000 in cash, more than 70kg of cocaine with an estimated street value exceeding £7million, and more than 20kg of amphetamine.
Detective Superintendent Nick Plummer said: “The conspiracy led by Edwards in the east of the county was significant, sophisticated and operating at a very high level. The quantities of cash and drugs involved were staggering, with Edwards sourcing import grade cocaine from a major national supplier.
“Hampshire’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit worked diligently to tie all of the pieces of the puzzle together in order to identify the key players involved in this conspiracy, and ultimately bring them to justice.
“However, police efforts to cause disruption to this organised crime group did not stop there. A subsequent investigation led by Financial Investigator Linsey Haupt was commenced to identify the financial figure to which Edwards benefitted from his criminal enterprise, in order to confiscate any assets obtained through criminal activity.
“The personal gain to Edwards as a result of his criminality was huge, and it is pleasing to see that all of the assets that have currently been identified as being in his possession have been ordered for confiscation.
“We continue to relentlessly pursue organised criminals to remove the scourge of drugs from our streets, protect vulnerable or exploited people, and keep our communities safer.
“We will not stop, and I would urge anyone in our communities with information about drug dealing in their neighbourhood to report it to police so that we can build the bigger picture and take action against those responsible for making the lives of others a misery.”
Edwards admitted conspiring to supply cocaine in Portsmouth and the surrounding areas, and conspiring to transfer criminal property. He and 12 other members of the organised crime group were sentenced for their roles in the conspiracy, with a combined jail term of 76 years.