THE police commissioner for Thames Valley has said the jailing of Oxford drug lord Khalad Uddin will help ‘control’ the supply of Class A substances across the region.

Anthony Stansfeld said he hoped detectives will be watching over the coming months to see whether another dealer ‘steps in to replace him’ after Uddin, 35, was jailed for a total of 16 years last week.

The police and crime commissioner praised the work by the force as pictures were released of the 10-tonne hydraulic cocaine press found in Uddin’s North Oxford penthouse, which he rented for £3,000 a month.

It comes after Mr Stansfeld presented his police and crime plan to Oxfordshire councillors last week, in which tackling serious and organised crime was one of his top priorities.

Mr Stansfeld said: “This was excellent work by Thames Valley Police in putting a high-level drug dealer behind bars. He was a key link with Albanian criminal gangs importing Class A drugs into the UK. I hope the police will be watching to see whether anyone steps in to replace him. However, the heavy sentence should act as a deterrent to those who would consider this.”

Detectives are currently working with colleagues in the National Crime Agency to after dismantling two Albanian crime groups through this operation.

Detective Chief Inspector Bruce Riddell told the Oxford Mail: “We are working the NCA and sharing out intelligence and evidence. There are a couple of people that are still of interest to us that we have identified through the investigation into Uddin, and the serious and organised crime unit continue to work on these investigations, hoping to get the evidence to put them before court.

“There will be a lot of falling-out and we are seeing very good prison sentences, which shows how seriously the courts are taking this kind of offending.”

In the plan, which sets out his targets for the next five years, Mr Stansfeld pledges to improve ‘community resilience’ and ‘information sharing’ to reduce the number of crime groups active across the Thames Valley.

He says: “Drug trafficking involving organised criminals from outside of Thames Valley expanding their drug supply lines, is becoming more prominent and it almost always involves exploitation of vulnerable person.”

Uddin was the kingpin of a multi-million pound cocaine racket before police smashed one of the largest organised crime groups in the country.

The 35-year-old stashed almost half a million pounds in cash in his Oxford penthouse and played a ‘key role’ as the middle man between Albanian gangsters and drug dealers across England.

Uddin of Little Brewery Street, St Clements, Oxford, brokered large deals of cocaine between European importers and customers in London, the West Midlands, South West of England and Oxfordshire.