Gang’s plot to rob dealers

Reporter: Robbie Gill
Date published: 24 October 2014


A GANG of thieves who used hi-tech tracking devices to steal from drug dealers and cannabis farmers has been jailed.

Jack Biernat (28) of Thatch Leach, Chadderton was one of a gang of five jailed for three years by a judge yesterday. The men placed trackers on the cars of known drug dealers, cannabis growers and even innocent visitors to hydroponics stores. The gang tracked known dealers to their cannabis farms, where they would steal plants and growing equipment.

The thieves used their knowledge of cultivation on the drug to strike when plants were ready for harvest.

Dale Wayne Hall (29), of no fixed abode, Scott Robert Calder (23), Paul Frederick Andrews (24) and Ryan Hayes (25), all from Moston, were also sent to prison for terms varying up to four years. All five pleaded guilty to burglary conspiracy. The group was rounded up one-by-one and during searches of suspect homes, police seized tracking devices, software, a meat cleaver, a sword, machetes, drug equipment and mobile phones.

Police dsicovered the tracking ploy when they stopped Biernat’s car and checked a laptop. A forensic examination led to a vehicle tracking company.

Detective Constable Wes Knights said: “The indiscriminate nature of their tactics left innocent members of the public at risk.

“The theft of cannabis plants, known among the criminal fraternity as ‘taxing’, is a very dangerous one.

It creates rivalries and bad blood between gangs, leading to other criminality. All too often innocent people are caught up in this.

“Taking this gang off the streets is a fantastic result for GMP and for people who are fed-up with cannabis dealers operating in their area.”