THOUSANDS of pounds in drug money has been confiscated from dealers in Ipswich.Dealers who appeared before judges at the town's Crown Court have received custodial sentences and had the profits of their crimes taken away.

THOUSANDS of pounds in drug money has been confiscated from dealers in Ipswich.

Dealers who appeared before judges at the town's Crown Court have received custodial sentences and had the profits of their crimes taken away.

Robert Riley, 44 and Justine O'Reilly, 40, were both given custodial sentences for their parts in drug crimes.

Riley was given seven years in prison after admitting a series of offences including supplying Class A drugs and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs between March 1 2003 and January 14 2004.

O'Reilly was charged with two counts of money laundering, which she had denied, but was convicted of at a previous hearing.

The court heard the couple's house in Burton Hill, Withersfield, near Haverhill had been seized and sold and a large quantity of cash was found in the loft.

An order to confiscate £103, 977.36 was made against Riley and another order to take £110,766.89 from O'Reilly was made. She was also sentenced to 12 months in prison.

In a separate hearing, efforts to secure a community rehabilitation order for 25-year-old Fabian Flanders, who was arrested as part of Operation Taurus, failed and he was sent to prison.

Judge Peter Thompson heard Flanders had made efforts to change his life since his arrest in April last year but said the offending had been so serious that Flanders should serve time in prison and sentenced to him to two years behind bars.

Operation Taurus was an undercover operation by Suffolk police, which has now secured almost 30 convictions. Flanders, of Kelly Road, Ipswich, was arrested after supplying crack cocaine to two undercover officers.

Three other dealers who have already been imprisoned as a result of Operation Taurus re-appeared in court to hear what would happen to the proceeds of their crimes.

Abdul Ahmed, Mohammed Abubakar and Graham Mayhew were all jailed by Judge Thompson in December and on Wednesday he heard applications for their profits to be donated to the Crown Prosecution Service and the Suffolk Drug Squad Equipment Fund.

Abdul Ahmed, 24, of Rudlett Walk, Manchester, who was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison after admitting supplying controlled drugs, had the £320 he had with him when he was arrested confiscated.

Judge Thompson heard from prosecutor David Pickersgill that Abubakar, of Pearly Road, Ilford, had been found with £1,615 hidden in his sock. Abubakar, 26, is also serving three years and nine months and the judge ordered £1,590 of this would be confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

A Vauxhall Cavalier car belonging to Graham Mayhew, 42, of Fletcher Road, Ipswich, had also been taken by police but Judge Thompson agreed to submissions from mitigating lawyer Simon Spence that the car should not be confiscated. Mr Spence said Mr Mayhew's wife was disabled and was currently using a loan car which was being paid for through public money. Mayhew is serving five years and Mr Spence said reinstating the £500 car would be less of a drain on public resources than her continued use of a loan car. Four mobile phones found in the car were also confiscated.