One of the UK’s most wanted men has been sentenced to 12 years in jail.
Calvin Parris, 35, from Cardiff, was detained by Portuguese police in the Algarve in October, having previously featured on the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) most wanted list.
Parris, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine in December, had disappeared in November 2020.
South Wales Police said the defendant was the last member of an organised crime group (OCG) to be detained.
Judge Jeremy Jenkins said the gang had attempted to bring drugs into Wales during the COVID lockdown.
The group was caught on 27 May 2020 when Albanian national Lenci Gashi was stopped by police.
Gashi, whose van contained 15kg of pressed cocaine, stamped with the logo of a car manufacturer, was jailed for 11 years and four months.
The following month, police arrested the head of the group, Michael Laverick, who was later sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Danny Attard, who stored the cocaine at locations in Cardiff, was jailed for 14 years.
Parris and Damian Farrugia were involved in the purchase of wholesale amounts of cocaine. Farrugia was previously sentenced to 13 years before Parris was jailed.
Parris and the group’s second-in-command Asim Naveed were found to have fled the UK for Portugal.
Naveed was later jailed for 10 years and eight months.
Amir Khan, a trusted member of the group who received 6.5kg of cocaine, was jailed for 20 years and seven months.
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Merthyr Crown Court heard police went to Parris’s home in the Ely area of Cardiff, after other group members were arrested, but that he was “not there”.
Mr Jenkins said he had to take into account the defendant’s previous convictions, which are both related to the supply of drugs.
The judge also said Parris was entitled to full credit for entering a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity after his arrest, which reduced the sentence handed to him from 18 years to 12.
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Duncan Burrage, NCA international regional manager, said the agency was “relentless” in its efforts to “track [Parris] down and return him to Wales to face justice”.
Detective Sergeant Ceri Young, from South Wales Police, added that “bringing offenders involved in this level of criminality to justice is a priority”.
