A DRUGS gang kingpin who helped flood east Monmouthshire and the Forest of Dean with cocaine trafficked from Spain made £300,000 from the conspiracy, a court was told.

But Ashley Bollen, who is serving eight years behind bars for his part in the evil trade, will have to pay back just £5 after police and prosecutors could find nothing of his ill-gotten gains.

Four other members of the gang who together profited to the tune of nearly £1m were similarly let off with orders to pay as little as £1 at a previous Proceeds of Crime hearing in July.

Bollen, formerly of Dewstow Road, Caldicot, was one of eight gang members jailed for a total of more than 40 years last January.

Cardiff Crown Court heard at the time that the suspected gang leader – Paul Harris, 27, from Cinderford, who has "links to the Chepstow and Magor areas” – was still on the run and thought to be hiding out in Colombia or Venezuela.

Prosecutor Clare Wilks told last week’s Proceeds of Crime hearing at the city court that 34-year-old Bollen had profited by £307,913 dealing cocaine, amphetamine, ketamine and cannabis, but had zero assets which could be recovered.

Judge Lucy Crowther ordered the convicted gang member to pay a nominal £5 within three months or face an extra day in jail – similar to the orders to pay peanuts last summer, when two of the quartet were deemed to have no assets and were told to pay just £1 each.

The other two were said to have £1,400 and £225 to their names, which they were ordered to hand over.

Charlie Linstead, 28, of Alice Crescent, Thornwell, Chepstow, who was handed a suspended jail sentence in January, made £338,554 but was ordered to pay £1.

The mother of Paul Harris – Helga Boehm, 48, of High Street, Cinderford – profited by £265,586, but was also ordered to pay £1 having been jailed for four years and 10 months.

Peter Wright, 33, of Channel View, Bulwark, Chepstow, who was jailed for five years and one month, benefited to the tune of £145,367, but only had assets of £225, which he was ordered to hand over or serve another seven days behind bars.

Lucy Hart, 27, also of Channel View, Bulwark, who received a suspended jail term, profited by £185,660, but only had £1,400 which she was ordered to pay or serve 28 days.

Also jailed last January were Boehm's partner and Paul Harris' stepfather Andrew Harris, 48, of High Street, Cinderford (five years and seven months) and Matthew Nicholas, 36, of Llanmartin (eight years and two months), while Duncan Peters, 51, of Saxon Place, Sedbury, Chepstow, received a two-year suspended jail term.

A Gwent Police spokesperson said at the time of the sentences: “Between February and October 2021, we carried out enforcement activities throughout the south of Monmouthshire which led to the seizure of drugs, cash and mobile phones.

“The phones seized not only showed their owners’ significant involvement in the supply of drugs, it also showed all those who worked with them.

“Over the two-year long investigation, we carried out eight warrants and more than £50,000 worth of class A and B drugs were seized, along with over £40,000 of cash.

"In one warrant alone, £38,000 was found in a money safe disguised as a book.”

Gwent Police appealed for help in tracking Paul Harris down in 2022, saying at the time: “Our officers would like to speak to the 25-year-old, who is also known as Paul Boehm, in connection with an investigation into drug trafficking offences.

“He has links to the Chepstow and Magor areas and also Gloucester.”