Gang masked as Knowledge students to pay back £36k from £1m drugs haul

The leaders of a £1m drug-dealing gang who sold cocaine across the capital masked as Knowledge students have been told to pay back just £36,000.  

Jay Tripp, Joseph Maloney and Danny Ward  led an organised crime group who ran a moped delivery service for class A drugs. They were jailed for over 60 years between them. 

Recently, in March 2018, Judge Nicholas Cooke QC imposed confiscation orders on the three men after revealing that they have benefited from the crime to the tune of over £1 million.

Maloney must pay back £26,346. Tripp £4,430 and Ward is to repay £5,625. Each man has been given three months to repay.  The group distributed more than 40 kilos of cocaine, with an estimated wholesale value of £1.4m, across London over a period of three weeks in February 2016

Analysis of their mobile devices revealed that they had sent a group text message to over 400 potential clients, bragging that they could deliver anywhere “…within 30mins central London and within an hour anywhere else”. To mask their activity, the group used mopeds with modifications including ‘knowledge’ boards to mimic trainee taxi drivers as they delivered drugs across central London. 

Spencer Barnett from the Organised Crime Partnership said: “This was a highly disciplined crime group who went to elaborate lengths to stay under the radar of law enforcement, using safe houses, throw-away mobile phones and mopeds to try and avoid detection. 

They spent the proceeds of their crime on hotels, holidays and gambling. At the time of their arrest the group was planning another significant importation of cocaine from South America which would have been used for street deals across London, impacting significantly upon communities. “By dismantling their operation we have been able to prevent the harm that would have been caused.”