A drug dealer whose own CCTV footage captured him singing the 1990 dance track ‘Dirty Cash’ while counting banknotes has been jailed for 15 years for running a major narcotics network across Kent.
The surreal footage, recovered by police from his business premises, showed Bertie Payne, 30, handling illicit profits while singing along to The Adventures of Stevie V’s hit about “money that talks”. It became a symbolic piece of evidence in a case that exposed a sophisticated operation supplying class A and B drugs with an estimated street value exceeding £800,000.
A Network Unravelled
According to Kent Police, Payne, from Birchington-on-Sea, coordinated the supply and distribution of vast quantities of drugs—including 24kg of cocaine, 10kg of ketamine, and more than 5,000 ecstasy tablets—across East Kent between August 2024 and January 2025.
To conceal the source of his wealth, the court heard he used a luxury watch business as a front. Officers stated this involved creating fake invoices to disguise the flow of money, a method of laundering that exploited an industry which has faced increased scrutiny over anti-money laundering regulations.
Payne’s arrest came on January 24, 2025, in the car park of the Bluewater shopping complex. Police apprehended him as he was about to hand £50,000 in cash to Halim Lashi, 31, from Croydon. Both men were wearing luxury watches, and more were found inside their vehicles. They were initially arrested on suspicion of money laundering offences.
The ‘PBoss’ and The Stash House
Analysis of Payne’s phone led investigators to his right-hand man, 51-year-old Peter Nicholls, known in messages as ‘PBoss’. Police found over 2,100 text messages had been exchanged between the pair. Nicholls, of Ramsgate, was arrested on April 3, 2025, and was described as working with several others to move drugs around the region.
The network also utilised the home address of 52-year-old Karen Gordon, also from Ramsgate, to store drugs before they were distributed. The group’s money-moving methods extended to the use of cryptocurrency, police said.
Following a comprehensive investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, five other men were arrested and charged: Massimo Fierro, 28; Harry Hathaway, 32; Mitchell Laing, 28; Reece Stovell, 29; and Klein Taylor, 29.
Sentencing & Consequences
All nine defendants eventually admitted charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine, except for Halim Lashi. Lashi denied a charge of money laundering but was convicted after a trial in October 2025.
The group was sentenced in two stages at Maidstone Crown Court. On March 12, 2026, Payne received a 15-year prison sentence, Nicholls was jailed for eight years, Gordon for four years and three months, and Lashi was given a two-year suspended sentence.
On March 16, 2026, the remaining members were sentenced: Reece Stovell to six years; Harry Hathaway to five years and three months; Klein Taylor to three years and four months; Mitchell Laing to two years and nine months; and Massimo Fierro to two years and eight months.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Martin Lacey said Payne had gone to “great lengths to conceal his criminality” by using a seemingly legitimate business and recruiting others to handle drugs directly.
“This was a large-scale operation which saw over £800,000 of drugs being distributed and supplied throughout East Kent,” DC Lacey stated. “Many vulnerable drug users were targeted, which not only affects their lives but also that of their families, and blights local communities.”
He added a final, pointed remark on the dealer’s cinematic moment: “Payne thought his operation was sophisticated and that he wouldn’t get found out. But, his sentencing shows that crime doesn’t pay.”
