A covert Gwent Police investigation triggered by a single WhatsApp chat led to the conviction of Newport father Robert Andrews Jr, who ran a multi-million-pound cocaine and heroin network under the guise of an ordinary life.
Gwent Police say a single WhatsApp message helped dismantle a vast drugs empire operated by Newport resident Robert Andrews Jr, 34, who has been sentenced to 14 years and eight months for supplying cocaine and heroin.
Detectives stumbled on Andrews’ name while examining the phone of Merthyr Tydfil dealer Kerry Evans, who joked they would either become “millionaires” or end up “sharing a cell.” Surveillance quickly revealed Andrews was the mastermind of an industrial-scale operation despite appearing to be a modest family man.
Under Operation Mayland, covert officers filmed Andrews conducting brazen daylight exchanges, including one at a secluded woodland location nicknamed “the clearing.” There, he handed over supermarket bags stuffed with cash or high-purity cocaine. Taxi driver Mohammed Yamin was intercepted leaving the site with 2kg of cocaine worth £200,000 and jailed for six and a half years.
Investigators uncovered evidence of at least £650,000 in supplier payments over two weeks, including a £109,000 handover authenticated by a unique £5 “token.” During a December 2023 dawn raid, Andrews tried to hide his phone, which contained detailed drug ledgers and images of cash bundles.
Detectives linked him to suppliers in Bolton, including Nathan Jones, jailed for 18 years. Judge Carl Harrison told Andrews his crimes “fuelled misery” and that involving his own mother, who received a suspended sentence, was “shameful.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Andrew Tuck said the case proves “drug crime has no place in our communities and there will be consequences.”