A DEALER who ran a “wholesale” drugs business from his Kingswood home and ran a cannabis factory on a nearby industrial estate has been jailed.
Ellis Kow, aged 25, was “a key figure in a sophisticated organised crime group” who had drugs that could have made £1.1 million in profits in his possession when he was arrested by firearms officers at his home in Courtney Way in March.
Police searched his Mercedes car and a Vauxhall Insignia he also had the keys for. They found a rifle, ammunition, more than nine kilos of heroin and two kilos of cocaine.
Kow also had keys to a number of industrial units at the Printworks Business Park in Foundry Lane, Speedwell.
When police searched the units they found 318 cannabis plants and growing equipment, three kilos of vacuum-packed harvested cannabis, and “chemicals and equipment consistent with the processing and preparation of kilogram quantities of class A drugs”.
Officers from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU), which led the investigation, also seized a large amount of designer clothes, bags, trainers and a Rolex watch from Kow’s home.
SWROCU said the Communist-era Czechoslovakian bolt-action rifle, which was fitted with a silencer, was “viable” and Kow had ten .22 calibre bullets ridges that could have been used in it.
Kow was jailed for nine years and four months at Bristol Crown Court in September, after pleading guilty to charges of possessing heroin, cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply, producing cannabis, possessing a firearm and ammunition without a certificate and possessing criminal property, in relation to bundles of cash found stashed in the armrest storage compartment of his Mercedes.
SWROCU Detective Chief Inspector Adam Smith said: “Kow was a key figure in a sophisticated organised crime group responsible for supplying large quantities of drugs across our region.
“His access to a rifle and live ammunition demonstrates the serious threat posed by those involved in this type of offending.
“Kow exerted significant influence within the group, overseeing the purchase, storage and distribution of class A drugs in wholesale quantities.
“He also managed the site where large amounts of cannabis were cultivated and harvested.
“There is no doubt that this was a highly lucrative criminal enterprise. The drugs seized during our investigation had the potential to generate criminal profits of up to £1.1 million.
“The sentence reflects the scale of Kow’s offending and ensures he can no longer profit from the misery caused by illegal drugs.
“Our work does not stop here. We will now seek to recover his criminal assets and ensure he is deprived of the proceeds of his crime.”