Two men have been jailed for running a multi million pound criminal enterprise in north Wales.

Lee Ablitt, 50 of Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside and Christopher Thompson, 49 of Wigan, Greater Manchester were sentenced to 5 years and 2 years 9 months respectively, having admitted Conspiracy to Supply Class C drugs from 2017 to 2021, and for proceeds of criminal property offences.

They used numerous units to store their drugs in north Wales, where they distributed them nationally.

In October 202 as part of Operation Blue Glory, officers stopped a car driven by Ablitt from north Wales back to Merseyside, and traffic officers found Class C drugs with a value of just under £60,000.

Following Ablitt’s arrest, North Wales Police searched seven sites across north Wales and the north west, discovering Class C drugs with a value of up to £2.1m, as well as a suitcase containing £434,000. In total, £489,000 was seized, and investigations showed the men had laundered several hundred thousand pounds through their bank accounts.

In December 2021, detectives raided Christopher Thompson’s home where he was found surrounded by packages of steroids.

Detective Chris Wynne said: “This was a sophisticated operation conducted over a four year period.

“The conspiracy was so financially lucrative, they had more drugs than they could physically sell fast enough.

“This investigation alone involved over 40 different drugs, and more importantly for users of steroids, some samples which were labelled as containing a specific steroid were found to contain different drugs, which highlights the uncertain and dangerous risk of these illicit products.”

Emeritus Professor Jim Mc’Veigh said: “The number of people using anabolic steroids appears to be on the increase.

“The use of anabolic steroids, together with a range of associated image and performance enhancing drugs, have been linked with a diverse range of physical and psychological harms.

“Of most significant concern are the potential long term adverse effects including physical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, changes to the cerebral cortex and impaired testosterone production, together with psychological harms such as dependence, depression and aggression.”