By Comfort Asemota
A British woman has been dramatically arrested moments after her flight landed in the UK, following allegations that she helped run a cocaine-trafficking network with her former husband.
Lisa Regan, 53, was detained as her EasyJet plane touched down, where officers were waiting on the tarmac to escort her off the aircraft. Footage captured the moment Regan, returning from a holiday, wheeled her suitcase across the runway before being led into a police van.
Regan and her ex-husband, Phillip Jones, 44, have since been jailed for operating what investigators described as a large-scale drugs enterprise supplying cocaine to dealers across Swansea and Ammanford. Police say Regan laundered the profits through a café she owned in Blaenymaes, Swansea. Detectives also recovered phone footage showing Jones cutting up a kilogram of cocaine as the pair continued running the operation behind the scenes.
Court Sentences Regan, Jones and Third Accomplice
At Swansea Magistrates’ Court in October, Jones admitted five offences:
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Being concerned in the supply of cocaine
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Two counts of possession with intent to supply cocaine
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Concealing criminal property
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Driving while disqualified
Regan pleaded guilty to:
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Being concerned in the supply of cocaine
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Possession with intent to supply cocaine
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Concealing criminal property
She was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison. Jones received six years and eight months.
Police also jailed Tracy Lewis, 54, described by officers as a dealer who bought significant quantities of drugs from Regan and operated his own distribution network in the Ammanford area. Lewis, from Llandybie, Carmarthenshire, admitted offences including:
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Being concerned in the supply of cocaine, crack cocaine and cannabis
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Possession with intent to supply cocaine
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Possession of cocaine
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Possession of criminal property
He was sentenced to six years.
Police: “They Thought They Were Above the Law”
Sergeant Luke Tucker said the trio had been responsible for “flooding our local communities with significant quantities of Class A and B drugs.”
“They thought that they were above the law – but they will have been devastated to discover that their operations weren’t as impenetrable as they thought,” he added. “Their removal from society has made our streets far safer and better off.”
