The leader of a Birmingham drugs gang convicted of importing £135m of cocaine, heroin and ketamine into the UK is the son of Staffordshire’s former deputy police commissioner, it can be revealed today. Jonathan Arnold’s drugs empire helped fund a life of luxury which included trips to Dubai, a Ferrari and a Rolex.
But it has emerged his mum Sue Arnold served on the other side of the law as part of Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner team. Long-serving Mrs Arnold held the role of deputy between 2012 and 2021 and part of her job was to hold the county’s police force to account.
And, according to detectives who helped bring him down, Jonathan Arnold was no petty crook but a serious player in the world of organised crime, smuggling in drugs from Colombia via European ports. The 29-year-old headed up a gang of crooks who stretched from Lichfield and Tamworth to the Black Country.
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Pretending to run a furniture removal firm, he was actually orchestrating £135m worth of cocaine, heroin and ketamine to be moved into the UK to be sold on streets across the city and beyond. Jonathan, from Sutton Coldfield, admitted four charges of conspiracy to import and supply drugs at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, May 19, and is awaiting sentencing.
His family links to the police – whom he may consider to be the enemy – can now be revealed. Mrs Arnold served as deputy to elected Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Matthew Ellis for almost a decade.
It’s the job of the PCC and his team to hold the Chief Constable and other senior officers to account for their actions and scrutinise their performance on tackling crime and how they serve the public. Walsall-born Mrs Arnold, who lives near Tamworth, also made a bid to become an MP in 2015, standing for the Conservatives in Walsall South. She lost out to Labour’s Valerie Vaz by 6,000 votes.
There is no suggestion she had any knowledge of her son’s criminal ways. Mrs Arnold made no comment when contacted by BirminghamLive.
The Regional Organised Crime Unit for the West Midlands revealed how Jonathan pretended to be the legitimate boss of small company, Real Estates Removals, but it was all a front as he jetted off to Dubai to drive Ferraris and live the high life. He flaunted expensive watches and even new teeth funded by crime.
But his life of luxury came crashing down when French Customs came across one of his drug runs to Europe in January last year. Some 63 blocks of cocaine weighing 71kg along with 99 bags with 101kg of ketamine, all totalling over £2.5m, were found in the Real Estate Removals van.
Drugs were also stashed inside furniture and secret compartments in vans and lorries, detectives revealed. Then in April last year, Dutch police found 1,477kg of cocaine hidden amongst bananas that had come from Colombia and was heading for Portsmouth. The haul seized had a street value of around £118m.
Det Ch Supt Jenny Skyrme, head of the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “As the head of the crime group, Jonathan Arnold enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, driving luxury cars and enjoying trips to Dubai. The reality was that he was arranging tens of millions of pounds worth of drugs to be imported into the UK from Europe and South America, which would have gone on to cause untold misery and significant harm to communities.”
On her reappointment as deputy PCC in 2016, her boss Mr Ellis was gushing with praise for her, saying: “Sue has brought real drive to her role over the past three and a half years and a new approach to all of the areas I have asked her to lead on. She has led the development of the Police Cadets on my behalf which has enhanced the lives of many young people across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.”
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