Three men from an organised crime group have been jailed after a police investigation found a stash car containing £16,000 in cash and eighty bags of cocaine near Devil’s Bridge, Aberystwyth.

Operation Haxted was set up by Dyfed-Powys Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit to investigate a sophisticated drugs network behind the supply of cocaine from Birmingham into the Aberystwyth area.

The operation identified the operator of the drugs line – Shaqir Tota – who co-ordinated the distribution of the drugs through a dedicated phone line, and his two runners – Florin Ghiorghe and Mirjol Bresa – who would meet local customers to supply them with gram or half-gram street deals of cocaine.

The 'runners' would receive texts from the drugs line phone number, directing them to a location in Aberystwyth, while the customer would receive a Google Maps pin-dropped location from the same drugs line number, where the runner and customer would meet for the drug deal to take place.

Deals would take place in the front passenger seats of the runners’ cars – which they hired in an attempt to cover their tracks. Ghiorghe was dealing from a blue Ford Puma while Bresa carried out his deals from the passenger seat of a red Kia Picanto.

On Thursday 20 August, Bresa’s hired Kia Picanto travelled from Merthyr Tydfil to the Aberystwyth area. Just before 2pm, he was seen parking up in a rural, unattended car park near Devil’s Bridge where he met with his fellow runner, Ghiorghe, who was already at the location in his Ford Puma.

The pair were seen rummaging around the boot of an unoccupied silver Volkswagen Passat before returning to their vehicles and heading into Aberystwyth.

The undercover operation into the three gang members and their dealings led to their arrests on Thursday 27 August. Drugs line operator, Shaqir Tota and runner, Mirjol Bresa, were arrested by West Mercia Police while travelling northbound on the M5 heading in the direction of Birmingham. The same day, Florin Ghiorghe was arrested by Dyfed-Powys Police in Aberystwyth.

With the three taken into custody, officers searched the unoccupied Silver VW Passat near Devil’s Bridge and found that the vehicle was being used as a stash car, where eighty individual, half-gram packets of cocaine were found, alongside £16,000 in cash stuffed beneath the driver’s seat

Inside the boot, officers also found a vacuum seal machine, rolls of vacuum seal bags and smell-proof black bags.

Several mobile phones were linked to the conspiracy, where thousands of text messages unveiled the co-ordination of their supply chain. Texts featured adverts including: “I am active in Aberystwyth every day with the best stuff from 6am until 1am with fast delivery and pure… if you share my number to your friends anyone who calls from you will get half for free. Have a good weekend”

All three were charged with being concerned in the supply of cocaine and were remanded into custody. After admitting their guilt, they appeared at Swansea Crown Court where they received the following sentences:

  • Shaqir Tota, 24, of Dingle Road, Dudley - jailed for two years and eight months (sentenced on 23 October)
  • Florin Ghiorghe, 28, of Buzzard Way, Penallta – jailed for two years and three months (sentenced on 23 October)
  • Mirjol Bresa, 21, of Bromford Road, Birmingham – jailed for 22 months (sentenced on Monday 2 November)

A fourth man, Mariglen Llapushi, 27, of Bristol - who had been operating as a drugs runner for Shaqir Tota - was sentenced in July 2026 as part of Op Haxted. He pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine in the Aberystwyth area and was jailed for three years.

Swansea Crown Court was told that Ghiorghe is a Romanian national who entered the UK illegally in May this year and surveillance revealed that Tota, an Albanian national, was coordinating the operation, speaking with customers and runners.

Sentencing Tota and Ghiorghe last month, Judge Catherine Richards, said it was clear Tota was running a profitable supply line with the expectation of financial gain and that Ghiorghe was acting on the instruction of Tota.

Detective Sergeant Steve Jones said: “Operation Haxted was a complex investigation targeting a well-established organised crime group responsible for supplying class A drugs in Aberystwyth.

“Despite their best attempts to avoid being caught - using hire vehicles, meeting in discreet rural locations and keeping the drugs in a separate, unoccupied vehicle – our dedicated team diligently followed their tracks, seized the drugs, cash, and put the three criminals before the courts.

“I’d like to thank residents for proactively reporting suspicious activity to us, which ultimately led to Op Haxted being stood up. This operation highlights the importance of the public reporting concerns to us, and our responsibility to act on those reports.

“I’d also like to thank colleagues at West Mercia Police for their assistance throughout this operation that has seen three serious criminals held to account for their actions.

“The dismantling of this group is a significant result not just for us as police, but for the wider Aberystwyth community who deserve to live in an area free of drugs and its associated criminality.”