Heroin dealers jailed

Published 25 Aug 2010 15:00

THREE more of the criminals making up the rotten core of Clydebank’s heroin network have been successfully convicted.

Kenneth Monaghan, 25, pictured - along with Callum Watt, 22, and Kenneth Costello, 32 - were all busted in Operation Matiz earlier this year.

The Post can now reveal their identities after they pled guilty to dealing the class A drug and were handed sentences totalling five-and-a-half years last week.

Operation Matiz began in December 2009 and culminated in the raids in March this year - which saw 18 people arrested - and involved 140 police officers.

Five of those busted - Colin Murray, 23, Kelly Cameron, 32, James Currie, 33, Gerard McWhirter, 33, and Michael McKell, 38 were caged in June.

This latest trio have now also been brought to justice.

Leading Operation Matiz - the biggest of its kind ever set up in Clydebank - was Detective Inspector Brian Dodd, from the Major Crime and Terrorism Investigation Unit.

At the time he told the Post: “Matiz was designed to shake up the business of a major organised crime gang operating across the UK.”

He described the targets as “lieutenants” in the organisation.

The Post accompanied police on some of the raids and were there when Kenneth Monaghan’s and Callum Watt’s Whitecrook homes were hit.

Just before 7am on Friday March 26, police gathered outside Cameron Court, near to the former St Andrew’s High building.

As the order “strike, strike, strike” came through the police radio, 10 plain clothed officers stormed the property.

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This article appeared in Clydebank Post 25 Aug 10

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