The kingpin of a crime group which controlled one of the largest "Breaking Bad" style amphetamine laboratories ever found in the UK has been jailed.
John Keet, 42, and his accomplices distributed the drugs to dealers more than 150 miles away.
The lab was capable of producing 400 kilos of amphetamine per month, worth £2million at wholesale and up to £10million at street level.
But Keet, his righthand man, Keith Davis, 62, and two other associates - Andrew Gurney and Elliott Walker - were snagged after investigators identified encrypted messaging platform EncroChat was being used to run the lab.
Keet was jailed yesterday at at Kingston Crown Court for 18 years, reports Birmingham Live.
Matt McMillan, National Crime Agency (NCA) branch commander, said: “John Keet was the mastermind behind this operation, and created one of the largest drugs factories ever found in the UK.
“He even paid for crime group members to undertake chemistry training, so that the drugs produced yielded the highest profit possible.
“These drugs were being supplied to other crime groups, and will have fuelled violence, fear and exploitation in communities across the UK.
“By closing down this lab and dismantling this crime group, the NCA and its partners have protected the public.”
Following weeks of surveillance, NCA officers raided the site - previously used double garage outbuilding - in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, on April 27, 2021, with assistance from Warwickshire Police.
Keet had invested profits from his career dealing cocaine, cannabis and amphetamines into building and managing the lab, the court heard.
Specialist crews from West Midlands Fire Service had to wait several hours before searching it due to the hazardous chemicals inside. Waste products from the production process, which had been flushed into the sewerage system, had also contaminated a nearby field.
The gang members were all arrested on suspicion of drug offences at their home addresses on the same day the factory was raided.
Keet, from Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to produce a Class B drug (ketamine), one count of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs (cocaine), two counts of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs (ketamine and cannabis), one count of conspiracy to import Class B drugs (cannabis) and one count of conspiracy to conceal, convert of transfer criminal property.
He paid for Davis, also of Chalfont St Giles, to undergo chemistry training to enable him to operate the site.
Gurney, 52, and from Quinton, Birmingham, was known as "The Geek" due to his specialist electrical installation and plumbing skills, converted the site into the drugs lab.
Gurney also received the same chemistry training as Davis.
Walker, 49, and from Kidbrooke, south London, was an associate of Keet, and purchased specialist equipment for the lab.
Davis and Gurney were convicted on June 8 last year, following a 12-day trial, and jailed for five years and six years and three months respectively. At a hearing last September, the Court of Appeal ruled that the previous sentences were unduly lenient and a Judge increased them to 10 years each.
Walker pleaded guilty to conspiracy to producing class B drugs (amphetamine) on September 17, last year and was jailed for six years last December.
