Overview
- A Lancashire court sentenced 10 people tied to the Ozone organised crime group, including leader Joshua Shaw to 15 years and associate Mark Kirkwood to eight years and six months.
- Officers raided a Whitegate Drive address on August 21, 2024, finding an ‘Amazon-style’ facility used to produce, package and dispatch large volumes of cannabis.
- The network advertised on Telegram and coordinated deliveries on WhatsApp, even sending maps to guide couriers across Blackpool and the Fylde coast.
- Evidence from seized phones showed delivery routes, images and videos of cannabis, plus a tracker tag and a counterfeit invoice linked to a parcel; investigators also found a second distribution site and a hidden phone in Kirkwood’s prison cell.
- Photos showed members in police-style clothing used to burgle rival grows, and detectives said the violence included a March 2024 home invasion where a woman was threatened with a machete and firebombing.