Teesside drug dealer has assets worth £46,684.29 seized

Nathan Moncur was also told he was having his designer watches seized by the authorities and his bank accounts would be emptied.

The 29-year-old was told he would be paying back a total of £46,684.29 when he appeared for a proceeds of crime act (POCA) hearing at Teesside Crown Court.

Moncur was one of a number of people jailed last year when a multi-million-pound drugs gang was brought down.

The drug trafficking operation was exposed when a courier was pulled over by Police Interceptors, resulting in 16 people facing justice.

Read more: Gang jailed for multi-million pound drug conspiracy

The arrest led to the collapse of a drug-supply network, which spanned the Pennines, as dealers based in Liverpool made at least 75 trips to Teesside to flood the area with up to £1m worth of cocaine.

Moncur was one of the men who profited from the organised crime gangs drug dealing operation.

Nathan Moncur

In October last year Moncur, of Corfe Crescent, Billingham, was jailed for four years and eight months.

Ryan Donoghue, representing the police, said the defendant’s bank accounts would be emptied, £25,000 in equity from a home he owned would be paid back and £1,000 worth of watches were seized.

John Nixon, representing Moncur, said his client would need three months realise his assets including the sale of the property.

He added: “Very sensibly, he has made arrangements to have the property marketed and I understand a potential purchaser has been found.

Judge Chris Smith said: “The benefit figure of your offending is no less than £88,707.53, a sum which will be forfeited from you and a co-defendant, and in your case the sum of £46,684.29 will be confiscated from you.”

Last year, the court heard that there was a flurry of mobile phone contact between people on both sides of the Pennines in the wake of Joanne Cooke’s arrest.

Read more: WATCH: Police Interceptors pull over courier targeting trans-Pennine drugs gang

Members of the Teesside operation, including Moncur, were jailed after 16 people faced justice during a two-day sentencing hearing.

Richard Omar, who was at the top of the organisation on Teesside, was in regular contact with Liverpool drug kingpin Dennis Dawrant Jnr in the weeks leading up to and after Cooke's arrest in 2016.

The moment police stop drug courier Joanne Cooke which led to the launch of Operation Mint. Picture and video courtesy of Raw Cut

The 53-year-old helped orchestrate the shipment of drugs from the North West into the North East on at least 75 occasions.

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