Undercover - The Insider Dealing Gang Week In Week Out

A motive was greed and their plan was simple - to flood South Wales

with drugs. That's a carrier bag containing ?14,740. A gang organised

from inside prison. We're talking about people supplying Class A drugs

to people on the streets of Gwent. Leaders were serving inmates. I knew

about the coindication, I didn't know about any guns. They were

caught by an undercover police operation. He's got something you

can clearly see in his hand. We're going to watch that discreetly go

into the red prison van. So how was this ever possible? And are open

prisons just too open to abuse? What's their attitude towards that

regime. Everyone sees it as a soft touch. Some prisoners will never be

suitable to open conditions, no matter how long they serve in

prison. They're big players. Roberts is a

career criminal who had no intention of changing his ways. The staff

can't deal with those people. That's where the system is crashing and

burning. They thought they were under the radar, because they were

technically in prison still. Locked up and driven away from Swansea

Crown Court, the drugs gang sentenced to a total of more than 30

years in prison. They were caught in a special police undercover

operation involving teams from the regional organised crime squad for

South Wales, Tarian, and the National Crime Agency. The gang

leader, Matthew Roberts, was a serving prisoner in an open prison,

organising a network outside. The gang rounded up, operation Pierre

has been a success but it has shone a spotlight on awkward questions,

not least: How is it possible to organise a drugs network across

South Wales from inside prison? It was clear from the beginning that

Roberts had become a significant threat to Wales in the provision of

Class A and Class B drugs. We had to work quickly and smartly and utilise

our techniques and capabilities to capture him in the act. Matthew

Roberts is from Maesteg. He's described as being Intel gent and a

talented cricket player. By the age of 20 he was in trouble for

possession of cannabis in. 2008 he was jailed for 15 years for heading

a drug gang, supplying cocaine, manufacture drone and amphetamines.

These are criminals that are exploiting people. Sometimes people

underestimate what serious and organised crime has on their line.

Heads up Tarian. Catching Roberts and his gang was part of the mission

to bring down organised crime. It's estimated it's cost the UK 50

billion a year. That's huge. What we do when we look at a criminal

network is we look at the whole network. So in operation Pierre,

we've take be out -- taken out their right-hand men and the couriers. We

take out the whole network. In January 2012, Roberts was a serving

prisoner at a secure prison, where he shared a cell with another drugs

dealer, Damien Ramsey. Ramsey was freed later that year, but in

October, he visited his friend Roberts, who had been assessed as

suitable for an open prison. In November 2012, Roberts was moved

here to Prescoed in Monmouthshire. He appeared to be a model prisoner.

He did a course in management and was even a trainer in the gym. He

was rewarded with the trusted position of driving the prison van.

But unknown to Roberts, he was now under surveillance by police and the

National Crime Agency. There was intelligence held by other agencies

that pointed towards Roberts and we start to build up a picture. Then,

it's about proving what's actually happening and sorting out what is

the hierarchy, how does that organisation work, and then, what

are the opportunities for actually bringing them to justice and getting

the evidence that we need? One of the undercover team told us what

they observed as Roberts, the inmate, was outside prison. Matthew

Roberts, he's on the left with the black jacket. On this occasion, he

was working for a garage. Essentially, what he would have to

do would be at the direction of the garage owner. From the times that we

were following him, we didn't really see him doing a great deal of work

for his employer. He used the van as if it was his own transport to

conduct his drug-dealing activity. This is the lowest level. It's an

open prison with day release. It's part of the rehabilitation that that

trust is there to go out and do the work the prison believes they're

doing. There wasn't any tag process in respect of Roberts. On January

10, 2013, Roberts was given four days special leave. He was supposed

to be staying with his father, but he had other ideas. His old

cellmate, Damien Ramsey, came to Prescoed and picked him up. Here's

Matthew Roberts. He has a carrier bag in his hand. It's a Sunday. He's

been in the shopping centre, where he's bought a mobile phone. Now,

part of his conditions of being on temporary license is that he's not

allowed to have more than one mobile telephone. He's clearly breaching

the terms of his temporary release on this particular day. He's in the

process of getting all the different bits he needs together in order to

carry on with his drug dealing enterprise. The following day,

Roberts drove to Port Talbot in Ramsey's car to meet another member

of the gang working on the outside. Matthew Pugh was supplying the town

with cocaine and amphetamines. Roberts had been given four days of

leave, four days in which to do whatever he wanted. Four days to

meet two known drug dealers before he returned to Prescoed. The ease

with which Roberts was able to run a drugs gang from Prescoed has raised

questions about the regime at the jail. What kind of prisoners are in

there? All sorts. Violence, sex offenders, drug offenders, all

sorts. A former prisoner of Prescoed told me what it's like there.

There's not a fence. There's all house blocks. You all have your own

room with your own key. Everyone sees it as a soft touch. That's what

it is. As long as you keep out of the limelight they won't bother you.

Dave Joseph now helps ex-offenders. Two years ago he was in Prescoed

after being jailed for growing cannabis. He told me many prisoners

have jobs outside. If you're working out, you leave the prison first

thing in the morning. You don't come back until 7pm. Some come back

later. Depends how far you have to travel as well. Do the prisoners get

in and out? Minibus actually. Some have their own cars. The rest is all

minibus, that type of thing. Prescoed was given a good report in

the latest inspection by the Chief Inspector of prisons. But more than

half of the prisoners surveyed there said it was easy to get illegal

drugs inside. .ing in you want is there, whatever it is. Anything you

shouldn't have you could get. As? Anything - drugs, drink, whatever.

If you have money, some way to pay, you can get it, simple. A Prison

Service spokesman said they take the use of illegal substances extremely

seriously and use a range of measures to find them. Detectives

kept ape close eye on Matthew Roberts' gang in Port Talbot. They

watched as Matthew Pugh took a delivery. We've got a white van

that's turned up. It's just parking outside an address. There, red coat,

that's Jamie Hunt. This is Matthew Pugh. That barrel there, that

contains something called Bens cane. That's something that's really --

benzocaine. That's commonly used as a cutting agent, you can get more

drugs for your money if you mix it with a cutting agent, which

Muslimics the effects of what the drug can do to you. Hunt and Pugh

answered to Roberts who was able to control drugs like mephedrone and

cocaine coming into South Wales. How was he able to Mastermind this

conspiracy from inside an open prison? The role of open prisons was

discussed last week at the annual conference of the Prison Officers'

Association. Open prisons play a fundamental, key role in the prison

system. Without open prisons within the criminal justice system, the

system would simply fail. It would crash and burn, because open prisons

are the test for prisoners who are serving extremely long sentences and

who have been in prison a long time to get them back into society and

integrate them into society safely and securely. The suitability of

open prisons for some inmates was thrust into the limelight by the

skull cracker case. He must be armed that guy. That's the geezer they're

looking for, mum. Yeah! He was caught after five days on the run,

after absconding from an open prison in Kent. The Ministry of Justice is

investigating. It comes just three months after it published a review

into prisoners being allowed out on day release from open prisons. Some

prisoners will never, ever be suitable to open conditions, no

matter how long they serve in prison. Now that could be someone

serving six months or somebody serving a life sentence. The reason

that I say that some people will never be, as soon as you put them on

open conditions, they will immediately walk out or go back to

criminal activities. Despite the skull cracker case and the drugs

gang we've highlighted, the Chief Constable of Gwent police said the

authorities get it right most of the time at open prisons, like press

pre, -- Prescoed, which is on his patch. We will get occasions where

people are out of prison where they shouldn't be. But I think we have to

look at the circumstances on those. Of course, people are going to get

frustrated by those individual cases. There's hundreds, if not

thousands of people who are released, which actually are

rehabilitated and are able to assimilate back into our

communities. Let's focus on what we're talking about - drugs on our

streets. Again, I have very little sympathies for people who want to do

that. Should they be behind bars? Yes, very often they should. Back

with the surveillance team and this time, Roberts is bugged making a

call to another drug dealer. I tell you why you needed to get there,

this M-Kat... Roberts is phoning this man, Richard Saltmarsh. He's in

a secure, closed prison in the Midlands, serving 26 years for

smuggling guns and conspiracy to supply cocaine. Saltmarsh was able

to use three mobile phones while he was inside. I've got a customer

ready. Well, he's out there. Because I'm getting like 15, 20. Maybe a

couple of days. M-Kat is mephedrone. Roberts is telling Saltmarsh he can

get 15 to 20 kilograms of the drugs. Yes I can get 14 grams no problem.

Get them salt Salt. -- Salt. I have people crying for it. We can move

this easily enough. I tell you what else, I have four-and-a-half posh

round two, if you can do anything with that. As well as offering to

sell Saltmarsh M-Kat, he is asking if he wants posh, or cocaine. This

bugged call would prove to be gold dust to detectives when they put

their case together to show a drugs conspiracy. The importance of this

conversation, it truly reflects the level at which Matthew Roberts was

operating, because it painted the true level, we're talking 15, 20

kilos, so this is a significant amount of drugs, which were

destined, we believe, for the South Wales area. Roberts and Saltmarsh

were the leaders behind the gang who were trying to flood South Wales

with drugs, most live cocaine and mephedrone. Just to confirm, this is

a strike, yes? Strike. Strike. Years ago, we reported on the massive

problems mephedrone was causing on the streets of Wales. At the same

time that Roberts' gang was operating. It's still having an

impact on the streets of Wales today. I snorted it on a few

occasions and it's very, best way to put it, is a more-ish drug. Rob has

used drugs for 18 years. He first started using mephedrone five years

ago when it was still legal to do so. Once you take it, you crave the

high straight away. You start off and think just a couple of lines.

Before you know it, you've sniffed line after line. You don't know what

you're doing. People are walking around like zombies come the end of

the weekend. Since mephedrone became illegal four years ago, the police

have been targeting dealers. Rob says it's still widely available.

It's rife. It's everywhere in Swansea. It's probably one of the

easiest drugs to get hold of. People are doing copious amounts of it.

They're not just taking small amounts. They're taking up to

quarter of an ounce per person, which is a massive amount. Rob is

now in recovery and getting support from projects like this one, Chance

To Grow, in Llanelli. Seeing people going from sniffing it, that wasn't

strong enough. They were going down to start injecting it then. I know

somebody who personally had it injected into their neck, which

paralysed them from the neck down. It's devastating what I've seen so

many of my friends going through with it. The police say it's not

drug users they go after, it's the main dealers they want. How serious

were the drugs they were distributing in terms of the class

and the impact they have on society? Very serious. Cocaine causes massive

problems in the community as does amphetamines and mephedrone. We're

not trying to go after people who get addicted to drugs. These people

aren't addicted to drugs. They are just making money out this afternoon

misery and that exploitation. That's what we're trying to tackle. Back in

Port Talbot, Pugh is one of the town's main drug dealers. Buff he's

just run out of luck. The undercover police officer says it's time for

them to move in. They arrest Pugh and the man who's been making

deliveries to him -- to him, Jamie Hunt. There's a balancing act, do we

let certain activities continue, but in doing so what harm could that

have on the community? At this point, based on the evidence that we

had, and the actions of these particular pair on this date, we

made the decision today was the day to arrest them. Enter the property

and video what they find. The evidence they discover will help to

convict the gang. That's a carrier bag on the bottom of the stairs

containing bundles of ?20 notes. In total that was ?14,740. We believe

that was destined to buy more controlled drugs. There you are,

there's a package of white powder. That's three-and-a-half kilos of

amphetamine. Now that's normally sold per gram. This could be made up

to make a much larger amount and the street value of it could achieve

just over ?150,000. Pugh and Hunt are questioned at Swansea central

police station. Tell us the circumstances surrounding it then.

Why you? Why did they ring you? Why did they pick you? Probably because

they knew I was stupid enough to do it. I needed the money. I needed the

money. Sorry, you said you needed the money? It was for money. That's

the reason I did it, for money. How much money? I think I got 100 or 150

quid or something like that. It's stupid. Pugh has less to say. We've

asked you - are you involved in the supply of controlled drugs and I

will ask you that question. Are you involved directly in the supply of

controlled drugs? What we're saying is that we've got what looks like a

neat picture here. If we're wrong, then tell us we're wrong.

Police recovered Pugh's mobile phone and it provides them with more

information. It shows calls made by Pugh to Roberts' right-hand man

Damien Ramsey. The police know that Ramsey is in contact with Roberts

inside Prescoed prison. The police are closing in on the gang. Despite

these two arrests, Roberts doesn't stop. Here, he's driving the prison

van to Cwmbran train station to meet another member of the gang. This is

Colin Beck. He's from the West Midlands area. You can see Matthew

Roberts is in the drivers seat of the red transit van. This is the

prison van. He's got something you can clearly see in his hand. We're

going to watch that discreetly go into the red van to Matthew Roberts.

There we are. The hand goes into the van by Colin Beck. At that point,

Colin Beck has dropped into the lap of Matthew Roberts the package.

Within that pot is a sample, a tester, of the larger commodity to

come and we say that white powder is mephedrone. The purpose of that

mobile phone call there was to say that your man's here and I've had

the sample and I'll be in touch about what the next steps are going

to be. In Matthew Roberts' hand he's trying to discreetly now open up the

pill pot to look at the contents. He's basically looked at the

contents of that pot and he can see the powder is in there.

Three weeks later, Roberts is driving the van back along this

country lane towards Prescoed prison. He throes his mobile phone

out of the window. What he doesn't know is that an undercover police

officer has spotted him doing it. Roberts' mobile phone was later

recovered from along this section of the lane. We understand this to be a

favourite spot used by prisoners to dump contraband such as mobile

phones. And that they leave markers along the side of the lane and in

the hedge row so that they can come back and find what they've dumped

later. The evidence against Roberts is mounting now and the prison

authorities decide to withdraw his privileges and move him it a closed,

secure jail. Roberts abused the trust in him at Prescoed. What

checks are carried out when prisoners are placed in an open

jail? It's claimed risk assessments don't include the likelihood of

re-offending in open prisons. They consider the likelihood of how the

person has behaved since he was sentenced, how he's behaved in

closed conditions and training conditions. And they then believe

the assessment is about how does he settle in an open prison and how

will he interact with society when released on temporary license.

There's concern that secure jails are so full, open prisons are being

used for inmates who aren't really suitable for such conditions.

Dangerous prisoners, prisoners who are not suitable, right, who may

have ticked all the boxes, but they're being sent to an open prison

far too early in their sentence. We're seeing criminal activities,

we're seeing absconds and failures on temporary release on license. As

a result, the public are being put at risk. That is simply

unacceptable. Earlier this year, concerns about prisoners on

sconeding from Prescoed were raised when convicted killer, Christopher

Woodward, went on the run for a month. Mr Speaker, residents in

Monmouthshire were concerned when a man convicted of manslaughter

absconded from Prescoed open prison. Would the minister ask officials to

look into the risk assessments being used before prisoners are

transferred into Prescoed to ensure they are suitably rigorous? We

expect the risk assessments in all these cases are rigorous. I will of

course look into it and find out what has happened. We asked the

minister for an interview, but he declined. He did tell us that in the

future prisoners on day release will be tagged and more rightly risk

assessed. Are you frustrated sometimes that there is this policy

about introducing lifers back into society and doing that through the

open prison route? Does that work from your point of view? I think

very much that individuals are individuals and for one person it

might not work, and for another it might. It does us no good at all

just putting people behind bars and leaving them there forever, if the

sentence they've had means that they can be rehabilitated and brought

back into the community and be a useful person. In these

circumstances that we're talking about today, we're talking about

people supplying Class A drugs to people on the streets of Gwent. I

have much less sympathy with those individuals. Time is up for Roberts'

trusted Lieutenant Ramsey. He's now arrested and interviewed by police.

You, I think, provided not only the Class A controlled drugs, but you

have also, with your courier, provided the cutting agent. What do

you say about that? Are we wrong? Was Hunt acting alone? If he was,

why is he communicating with you so often on significant days? Police

will want to know what Ramsey has been doing with the money he's made

from drugs. Previously he's been ordered by the courts to sell a

yacht, three flats, a hot tub and a sauna, seized by detectives who went

after his drugs money. Next, gun runner and drug dealer Richard

Saltmarsh is in the police sights. This is the police audio interview.

As I said to you, I believe you and Roberts were in the top tier of this

group. You were utilising people on the outside. You're actually saying,

so this is what the police are saying is that what, I'm supplying

Roberts? No, you were facilitating through your contacts with people on

the outside the supply of controlled drugs into South Wales. Now it's the

turn of Colin Beck, the drugs courier sent by Saltmarsh to make

the drop at Cwmbran station. Tell me about Richard Saltmarsh. Nice guy.

Very pleasant. Mr Saltmarsh is currently serving 26 years in

prison. Right. For importing 39 mm harned guns and 14,000 rounds ever

ammunition together with a kilo of cocaine. I knew about the cocaine. I

didn't know about any guns. When you say he's a nice guy, pleasant...

He's always been pleasant enough with me. Finally, Roberts is

arrested in prison on June 15th, 2013. We're not picturing you as a

grand dealer. We're picturing you as the head of an organised crime group

and multiy kilo dealer. The conversations support where we are

picturing you. You are talking kilos. You are up there, top of the

tree. In total, the gang were jailed for more than 36 years. Gang leader

Matthew Roberts returned to prison for an additional eight years. If he

hadn't been caught, he would have been freed from Prescoed open jail

next year. Roberts is a career criminal, who

had absolutely no intention of changing his ways. There was only

one thing he was going to do when he left prison, that was to carry on

offending. Are there lessons to be learned from this? There's lessons

about how ongoing we share our intelligence across agencies, which

we are getting better at. There are lessons around lifetime management,

which mean not taking the focus off when people do go into prison. I had

a good relationship with the prison governor of Prescoed through this

operation and he assisted us in gathering evidence we needed. That

needs to continue and it will. We need to make prison a really hostile

place and a disruptive place for this sort of crime. And any kind of

crime. The recent skull cracker case shows the system doesn't always

work. And last night, two more prisoners on sconeded from an open

jail in South Yorkshire. This afternoon, the Justice Secretary

announced that in future, prisoners will not be allowed to go to open

prison if they've absconded before. But is that enough? The risk

assessments, when a prisoner is in the open estate is too late. That's

where the failure is already occurring. That's when a prisoners

may go underground and be an ideal prisoner within a prison setting,

but they're running organised crime from the open prison estate. My

message to the prisons minister is work with the POA, listen to their

concerns and we guarantee you one thing - open prisons will have a

better record than they have over the last five years. Isn't the end

of the story for Matthew Roberts and his gang, now the police will go

after them where it hurts most - in the pocket.