Class A dealers who supplied Swindon fail to appear for sentencing

Three men who supplied crack and heroin in Swindon are on the run.

They were jailed for a total of 17 years but failed to appear at the hearing and are now wanted.

Kennedy Campbell, 26, of Enfield, has been sentenced to seven years and two months, while Bernard Sindano, 29, of Walthamstow, and Ricardo Wright, 24, of Croydon, have been sentenced to five years one month and four years nine months respectively.

The three men were sentenced in their absence.

The sentences follow work by the Force’s Operation Fortitude team stretching back to 2017, cracking the 'Captain' county lines drug network.

By tracking dealer phone numbers and forensically analysing drugs found, officers were able to establish Campbell as the kingpin of the network, running a line which saw Class A drugs distributed around Swindon.

He was first arrested in April 2018 alongside Wright, a month after Sindano was arrested, as officers seized thousands of pounds of cash, drugs and burner phones.

Analysing call and sim phone data, officers were able to piece together the movements of the trio, establish when the line was active and link the two together with evidence.

Charges were brought in August 2020 against Campbell, Sindano and Wright for conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin, and possessing criminal property.

All three men pleaded guilty.

PC Emma Rice said: “This was an excellent piece of work by the Fortitude team to secure convictions for these three drug dealers.

“County lines drug dealers like these ruin lives and our team were determined to stop at nothing to ensure they were brought to justice.

“These convictions and sentences show that we won’t let county borders stop us from catch criminals who are trying to supply Wiltshire with illegal drugs.”