OFFICERS who led the case said the methods used by those supplying the drugs were completely new to them.

Detective Inspector Mark Hughes, Wrexham town centre Inspector Vic Powell and PC Nathan Hosie were heavily involved in Operation Landings.

It began about 18 months ago when the town hit national headlines for the all the wrong reasons, with pictures of people alleged to have taken the psychoactive substances slumped in various parts of the town centre reached the national media.

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Danny Jones, Josh Partyka and James Dunn jailed for supplying spice. Images: North Wales Police

DI Hughes said: “We were asked to look at the problem of Spice in Wrexham as there was a cohort of homeless people who were being dealt to.

“It was such a new drug. We had to work our way back to where it was coming from.

“Joshua Partyka was supplying to the town’s homeless and into prisons. His home address was used as a base to run the operation from Churton Drive.

“He used the shed at the back as a little office.”

DI Hughes said a raid at the property last August turned up £10,000 in cash and envelopes.

Officers found what was described as a shed at the bottom of the garden which had been converted into a ‘store house’ and ‘shop’.

He added “Partyka organised his enterprise” to supply cocaine and spice into prisons as well.

One of the ways in which he did this was by grinding the substance, and getting what was described by DI Hughes as an A4 sheet of paper “impregnated” with the drug, with a picture of a motorbike on it, posted to prisoners in Liverpool and Wrexham.

The paper, cut up into little squares and sold off to other prisoners, could either be smoked or eaten.

The presence of the drug was so strong through the envelope that it made the prison staff handling the mail ill.

His accomplices were Daniel Jones, described by DI Hughes as Partyka’s “lieutenant”, Lorna Jones, through whose bank account £28,000 went through in a year, and James Smith Dunn as the “link between them and the homeless people”.

As those involved in supplying the drug have been sentenced, officers and other agencies are still working with victims who have taken the substances try to turn their lives around.

Wrexham town centre Inspector Vic Powell has been heavily involved in helping with the multi-agency support to the victims taking the substances.

He described how the problem flared up after the substances, synthetic cannabinoids, previously sold legally in ‘headshops’ were deemed illegal to sell - but not illegal to possess in 2016.

The mutation of the drug and its effects on users meant there was “no textbook” for officers to follow, said Insp Powell.

“People had a hit, it rendered them unconscious, and vulnerable people were the biggest market", he said.

“It was changing hands in that community. We have seen a noticeable improvement since but it is still a work in progress.

“Eighteen months ago it all came to a head. The introduction of the PSPO (Public Spaces Protection Order) pushed that community into the public eye and they could be seen on the pavements.

“We were dealing with the same people day in and day out with a multi-agency approach to try to understand the problems which had grown into the body of those people.”

Insp Powell said a number of vulnerable clients, whose behaviour created a “high demand” on police resources at the time, had since gone through detox and rehab with one now a peer mentor to others going through similar experiences – described as “a real success story”.

He added: “We had to consider the safety of the outreach workers who put themselves at risk to deliver help to people who were very difficult to engage with.”