Court orders men who ran class A drugs ring in Stratford to pay £3 million

THREE men involved in an international drugs ring supplying Stratford with cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and amphetamines have been hit with confiscation orders for more than £3 million.

The men are already serving a combined 35 years and six months in prison for their part in supplying the class A drugs, but Birmingham Crown Court has now made an order that will see them punished financially.

Warwickshire Police said Michal Wawrzycki, 41, of Stratford, was told to pay £1,201,313.67 over three months.

Wawrzycki was identified as one of the main recipients of drugs coming into the UK, and had his own network around Stratford which he used to move on the drugs.

He also used a pair of tanning salons, one in Stratford and one in Rugby, to disguise the income from the drugs.

He is serving seven years and six months in prison.

A second man, Lukasz Albert Strag, 44, from Leicester, must pay £1,367,929.13.

Strag, nicknamed Roztrzepany, was responsible for the transportation of drugs from Europe into the UK, taking the money over to Poland, Spain and the Netherlands and acting as a courier. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Lastly, Tomasz Kuflowski-Swistak, 49, of Peterborough, must pay £459,127.61.

He was involved in the distribution of drugs once they arrived in the UK, delivering 5kg batches of amphetamines referred to as “Polish breakfasts”. He received eight years in prison.

Warwickshire Police’s investigating officer Andrew Lee said “These men were responsible for the movement of a substantial amount of class A drugs into the UK.

“Those drugs will have directly ruined lives – not only for those purchasing them, but for multitudes from their production to their movement and sale.

“We are very happy to have shown them that crime doesn’t pay – we will take back every penny that we can.”

The Regional Organised Crime Unit for the West Midlands carried out the investigation into the drugs ring as part of Op Target.