As the net closed in on him, Khalid Ege fled the country and spent six years on the run before being caught trying to cross a border with "false papers"
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| Khalid Ege from Cardiff was sentenced to 12 years in prison for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs(Image: Tarian) |
The head of an organised crime group was arrested after six years on the run as he travelled through South American using false documents, a court has heard. Khalid Ege had fled Wales after the net began to close on his cocaine dealing empire.
His criminal business had seen him splashing out on VIP treatment at a posh London bar and tickets to see an Anthony Joshua boxing match at the O2 Area in order to impress his contacts in the underworld.
The 50-year-old was eventually arrested as he crossed the border between Colombia and Paraguay and was brought back to Wales to face justice. He has now been locked up for 12 years.
Kevin Jones, prosecuting, told Merthyr Crown Court that Edge was the last person to be sentenced as a result of a complex police investigation into the large-scale trafficking of Class A drugs into southern Wales. He said the supply network had seen multiple and distinct organised crime groups or OCGs based around the UK working together to form a "drug consortium" which was responsible for the large-scale, commercial supply of cocaine.
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| He was sentenced at Merthyr Crown Court(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne) |
The prosecutor said Khalid was the head of the south Wales OCG and sourced multiple kilos of high-purity cocaine from his "upstream suppliers" in Liverpool and the Midlands for onward distribution throughout the valleys. He said as an indication of the scale of the operation, when Khalid's courier was intercepted by police as he was returning to Cardiff he was was found to be transporting five kilos of cocaine worth up to half-a-million pounds on the streets. He said that return journey was one of eight which the courier had made at the behest of his boss.
The court heard that members of the Liverpool OCG were linked to a drugs laboratory in the Birkenhead area and sourced equipment and cutting agents from suppliers in China. Those materials were used to process and adulterate illicit drugs before onward distribution around the UK, including to south Wales.
The court heard that the police operation into the drugs network - codename Operation Vermont - included extensive covert surveillance of suspects and tracking of vehicles. The operation revealed multiple face-to-face meetings between various leading members of the crime gangs as well as phone contact, financial links, and DNA and fingerprint evidence linking the conspirators with packages of drugs.
The prosecutor said covert officers were present in London when Khalid hosted an "extravagant" meeting with the heads of the Liverpool crime gang in October 2019 . He said the Cardiff dealer treated the Merseysiders' to hospitality in a VIP area at a Mayfair bar before the group attended the Anthony Joshua boxing match London's O2 Arena, tickets for which cost £1,400 each. The barrister said the purpose of the event was for Khalid to demonstrate that "he was able to swim in the same waters" as his powerful criminal contacts.
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| Merthyr Crown Court(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne) |
The court heard that following the arrest of a number of his co-conspirators, Ege fled the UK in December 2019 in an attempt to evade justice. The defendant remained a fugitive until December 2025 when he was detained crossing the border from Colombia into Paraguay using a false passport and identity documents. Crucially, he was also found to be carrying his real - albeit expired - British passport which revealed his true identity.
The court heard Ege was sent back to Colombia and was then transferred to Spain in the custody of National Crime Agency from where he was extradited back to the UK.
Khalid Ege, of no fixed abide, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
Jonathan Rees KC, for Ege, invited the court to find a distinction could be drawn between the "astronomical" amounts of drugs the Liverpool gang had been involved in, and the amounts being handled by his client who - he said - was a "local distributor". He said if the Liverpool gang members had been "Premier League", the defendant was "Championship at best, if not League One".
Judge Jeremy Jenkins told the defendant he had been involved sourcing cocaine on an "industrial scale" for onward distribution around south Wales, including to another organised crime group based in Merthyr.
The judge said as police began to arrest the co-conspirators the defendant had fled from the jurisdiction and said it wasn't until December last year that he was caught in South America using "false papers". He said "fortunately for the authorities", Ege had also been carrying his real British passport.
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas, Ege was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He will serve half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
Judge Jenkins praised the dedication shown by police in what had been a "monumental case".
Speaking after the sentencing detective inspector Andrew Gibbins of Tarian - the southern Wales serious and organised crime squad - said: "Operation Vermont has been one of the largest and most complex investigations into the supply of illicit drugs ever undertaken by Tarian.
"The investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of a significant number of individuals operating across Wales, England and Scotland, and involved extensive collaboration with policing and law enforcement partners both within the UK and overseas. This included two extraditions from Spain and international enquiries spanning China and South America.
"Today's sentence marks the conclusion of a lengthy investigation and demonstrates our determination to pursue those involved in organised criminality, no matter how far they travel or how long they seek to evade justice.
"Tarian remains committed to identifying, disrupting and bringing to justice those responsible for causing harm to our communities. Whether you are directing an organised crime group, supplying drugs, producing them, transporting them, or carrying out any other role within a criminal network, we will pursue every available line of enquiry to hold you accountable for your actions.
"The significant sentences handed down throughout Operation Vermont reflect the scale of the criminality involved and our unwavering commitment to protecting communities across southern Wales."
A total of 32 co-conspirators have previously been sentenced as part of Operation Vermont, with their sentencings taking place between November 2022 and April 2023. In total they have received combined custodial sentences totalling more than 256 years.
- Ashley Pemberton and Jason Evans
