A 33-year-old Bristol drug dealer has been jailed for six years.

Carlington Richards of White Tree Road, admitted supplying Class A and Class B drugs throughout the South West.

He was sentenced to six years at Bristol Crown Court on Friday (March 27) following the joint operation between Zephyr and neighbourhood officers.

The Operation Wyvern investigation into Richards was linked to Operation Anthill  - a two-year major drugs investigation carried out by Zephyr into the importation and supply in drugs. This was based around the Coach House public house in Stapleton Road and involved drugs valued at more than £1.5m.

In September 2013, officers had obtained evidence that Carlington Richards had travelled to Birmingham to buy quantities of heroin. If they had been successful, Richards’ plan would have involved heroin with a street value of more than £50,000 being dealt across the region.

Richards was arrested whilst attempting to purchase an iPad from Argos in the Broadmead Shopping Centre. He attempted to pay using £400 of counterfeit currency, which police suspected had come from the drug deal struck the day before.

Inspector Trevor Sweeting said: “We are working with Zephyr on a number of local issues, where we believe criminal gangs are organising large scale drug deals in this area. This sentence sends a clear message to other drug dealers that behaviour such as this will not be tolerated.

“I would like to extend my thanks to those members of the community who came forward to give us the information about Richards and his gang, which allowed us to take positive action, which means Bristol is a safer place to live and work, "

Zephyr’s senior investigating officer DI Jim Taylor said: “This is the final chapter of Operation Anthill, which has already seen prison sentences totalling more than 90 years being handed out to dangerous drug suppliers.

“Carlington Richards is an individual who felt he was above the law and was blatantly supplying large quantities of drugs, which reduces the quality of life for many individuals in our communities."

On March 6 at Bristol Crown Court jail sentences, totalling more than 90 years were imposed following a two-year operation (Op Anthill), carried out by Zephyr, which focused on a drugs operation run from the Coach House public house in Bristol, which is now closed.

More than £1.5m worth of drugs, ammunition for a handgun and more than £50,000 cash were seized as part of the operation.

Radcliffe Miller, the licensee of the Coach House and his partner in the drugs operation – Orville Salmon – were jailed for a total of more than 40 years, after it was shown they masterminded a complex operation to import large quantities of drugs from the Netherlands and Jamaica.