Gang boss who ran Britain's biggest ever amphetamine factory is jailed for 18 ... trends now
The gangster behind Britain's biggest ever amphetamine factory has been jailed for 18 years.
John Keet, 42, set up a giant lab in the West Midlands capable of producing 400 kilos of amphetamine per month, worth up to £10m on the streets.
Keet used the profits he made from a career dealing cocaine, cannabis and amphetamines to start up the factory in picturesque Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire.
His gang sold drugs across the West Midlands, London and Kent.
But Keet's empire came crashing down after National Crime Agency investigators infiltrated the secretive app EncroChat he was using along to run the lab with his associates.
Keith Davis, 56, from Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, received a total sentence of five years and three months. His sentence was also increased to 10 years today at the Royal Courts of Justice. Right, Andrew Gurney was jailed for six years
According to the NCA, the Warwickshire lab was capable of producing 400 kilos of amphetamine per month - worth £2 million at wholesale and up to £10 million at street level
Keet pleaded guilty to all the charges during an earlier hearing at Kingston Crown Court , and was jailed for 18 years at the same court today
National Crime Agency investigators infiltrated the secretive app EncroChat Keet was using along to run the lab with his associates.
The crime group would then distribute the drugs to dealers in London, Kent and the West Midlands.
Keet paid for his lieutenant Keith Davis, 62, to undergo chemistry training to help him run the lab.
Andrew Gurney, 52, known as 'The Geek' due to his specialist electrical installation and plumbing skills, converted a double garage outbuilding into the drugs lab.
He also received the same chemistry training as Davis.
As part of Operation Venetic NCA officers started observing the lab in March 2020.
The gang initially bought amphetamine pre-cursor chemical benzyl methyl ketone (BMK), but quickly realised it was more profitable to make it themselves.
Following weeks of surveillance, NCA officers raided the site in Ullenhall Lane, Henley-in-Arden, on 27 April 2021, with assistance from Warwickshire Police.
Plumes of noxious fumes billowed from the outbuilding when it was opened by specialist crews from West Midlands Fire
