PREVIEW

WORDS BYLINE: Sam Lennon
A drug dealer whose own CCTV caught him singing about “dirty cash” while handling illicit money has been jailed.
Bertie Payne coordinated the supply of class A drugs across east Kent and used a luxury watch business as a cover-up, allowing him to fake invoices to run large amounts of money through the accounts.
The 30-year-old led a group of seven men to supply and distribute 24kg of cocaine, 10kg of ketamine and 5,000 ecstasy tablets across east Kent between August 2024 and January 2025.
Following an investigation by officers from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, Payne, of Plumstone Road, Acol, Birchington, was arrested in a car park in Bluewater on Friday 24 January 2025 as he was about to hand another man, Halim Lashi, £50,000 in cash.
Both were also wearing luxury watches and had more watches inside their vehicles. They were each arrested on suspicion of money laundering offences and police began collating evidence.
As part of this, CCTV was recovered from the office Payne used for the watch business.
While reviewing the footage, police saw him counting large amounts of money, and also singing the lyrics “Dirty cash, I want you - dirty cash, I need you now”, from the song Dirty Cash by Adventures of Stevie B.
Analysis of his mobile phone led them to identify others involved in the supply and distribution of drugs and cash.
More than 2,100 text messages were found to have been sent by Payne and ‘PBoss’, later identified as 51-year-old Peter Nicholls, who officers arrested on Thursday 3 April 2025.
Police concluded that Nicholls was Payne’s right-hand man and that he worked with several others to move class A and B drugs all around east Kent. Laishi, Payne and Nicholls also had dealings with moving the illicit money, which included the use of crypto currency.
Nicholls, of Ellington Road, Ramsgate, was also found to have used the home address of Karen Gordon, to store some of the drugs before they were moved on. She was later arrested.
Following the comprehensive investigation officers additionally arrested Massimo Fierro, Harry Hathaway, Mitchell Laing, Reece Stovell and Klein Taylor. Along with Payne and Nicholls, they were all charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Payne and Nicholls were additionally charged with conspiracy to supply ecstasy, and along with Fierro all three were charged with conspiracy to supply ketamine.
Payne and Nicholls were additionally charged with money laundering offences, along with Lashi.
Each of the defendants admitted their charges apart from Lashi, who denied the charge of money laundering. He was found guilty at a previous trial in October 2025.
Payne, Nicholls, Gordon and Lashi were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday 12 March.
Payne was handed a 15-year sentence while Nicholls was ordered to serve eight years in jail.
Halim Lashi, 31, of Lynwood Gardens, Croydon, was given a two-year suspended sentence while Karen Gordon, 52, of Ellington Road, Ramsgate, was sentenced to four years and three months in jail.
The rest of the group were sentenced as follows on Monday 16 March:

• Reece Stovell, 29, of St Benet’s Road, Westgate-on-Sea, was sentenced to six years in jail

• Harry Hathaway, 32, of Kingsgate Avenue, Broadstairs, was sentenced to five years and three months

• Klein Taylor, 29, of Sussex Street, Ramsgate, was sentenced to three years and four months in jail

• Mitchell Laing, 28, of Lime Trees, Minster, Thanet, was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail

• Massimo Fierro, 28, of Shottendane Road, Birchington, was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail
Investigating officer, detective constable, Martin Lacey said: “Payne went to great lengths to conceal his criminality by not only running the money through what appeared to be a legitimate business, but he also recruited others to handle the drugs in an effort to distance himself from the criminality.
“This was a large-scale operation which saw over £800,000 of drugs being distributed and supplied throughout east Kent.
“Many vulnerable drug users were targeted which not only affects their lives but that of their family, and blights local communities.
“Payne thought his operation was sophisticated and that he wouldn’t get found out but his sentencing shows that crime doesn’t pay and that if you are involved in criminality you will be caught and you will face the consequences.”