Latest news with #OperationVenetic
Sunday World
14-05-2025
- Sunday World
Video shows dramatic moment cops use chainsaw to break through drug dealer's door
Dramatic bodycam footage shows Asrar Rafiq with his hands above his head after police cut through his door in an operation involving firearms officers at a property in Aston The moment a drug dealer came face to face with a chainsaw as armed police broke through door has been caught on camera. The dramatic bodycam footage shows Asrar Rafiq with his hands above his head after police cut through his door in an operation involving firearms officers in June 2020 at a property in Aston. Rafiq was later sentenced to more than 18 years in prison following an international operation which had cracked the EncroChat messaging service used by organised criminals. The 35-year-old had boasted about the hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash which he made through drug deals, while listing various weapons including AK-47s and Uzis which he claimed he could source for other criminals. Asrar Rafiq Described as a leading member of the notorious Bordesley Green gang, Rafiq was one of 12 people given a gang injunction in 2014. But his criminality continued, and a major investigation by the Regional Organised Crime Unit for the West Midlands (ROCUWM) established that he used 13 different phone numbers in an effort to evade detection. CCTV caught him using his phones while working out a local gym. News in 90 Seconds - May 14th He was later caught when police managed to hack into the encrypted global communication service used exclusively by criminals on mobile phones. Criminals had been using the app to message each other in what they thought was a secure chat. There were 60,000 users worldwide and around 10,000 users in the UK who used it to coordinate and plan the distribution of illicit commodities, engage in money laundering and in plotting to kill rival criminals. However, unbeknown to users, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the police monitored their every move in the aftermath of the cracking under the nationwide Operation Venetic. According to the NCA who played a key role in analysing the intercepted data resulting in thousands of arrests, Rafiq was one of the users of the app and went by the name 'Wisehorse'. He engaged in what he thought were secret conversations with other criminals to organise the supply of massive amounts of heroin and cocaine. Rafiq had tried to claim the messages were 'just bravado and that he was trying to big himself up to other drug dealers', said DCI Peter Cooke who described the claims as 'fanciful'. 'He was clearly a significant player in the criminal underworld of firearms and drug dealing, which causes so much misery on the streets of the West Midlands and beyond,' Cooke added. 'This result shows that while Operation Venetic was launched five years ago, the fallout for those involved in serious and organised crime continues to this day.' Rafiq eventually pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting with the sourcing, advertising and sale of prohibited weapons and ammunition, and being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin. Rafiq, of no fixed address, was jailed for 18 years and six months at Birmingham Crown Court last Thursday, and was sentenced on the basis that he had or supplied 28kg of heroin and cocaine during a short period of just three months. DCI Peter Cooke added: 'This result shows that while Operation Venetic was launched five years ago, the fallout for those involved in serious and organised crime continues to this day.' 'The success is part of Operation Target, our 24/7 mission to disrupt and arrest those involved in serious and organised crime in the West Midlands. 'Those involved in guns, drugs, money laundering, exploitation are all in our sights.'
Daily Record
25-04-2025
- Daily Record
Drug trafficker who scalped woman can only pay back £1 of his criminal gains
An associate of a notorious Liverpool drug boss Vincent Coggins, was found to have benefited to the sum of nearly £500,000 from his life of crime - but will only have to pay back £1. Paul "Woody" Woodford was one of Coggins ' most trusted associates and was sentenced to 24-and-a-half years for his role in sourcing a firearm in a terrifying blackmail plot to recover a stolen cocaine haul. Woodford is a notorious figure in Liverpool's criminal underworld with convictions dating back 30 years for a series of heinous incidents including scalping a terrified woman with a machete and torturing a man with a hot iron, machetes and knives. He later fell in with Coggins' operation and was deployed to Europe where he was part of a heavily-armed gang arrested in Amsterdam, reports the ECHO. Woodford was also charged with the murder of 31-year-old pilot Jason Osu, but slashed his throat midway through the trial and refused to answer questions when giving evidence. He was cleared of the murder after a seven week trial and five days of deliberations . Woodford later adopted the EncroChat handle "Kingwasp" which he used to source and distribute heroin and cocaine shipments for Coggins. A proceeds of crime hearing was held on Thursday , April 24 before Manchester Crown Court for Woodford, Coggins and co-conspirator Michael Earle. During the brief hearing , prosecutor Alex Leach KC said representatives of both the crown and Woodford agreed the hardened gangland figure had benefited to the tune of £499,960.50 from his life of crime. However, the court heard Woodford, represented by Sebastian Winnett, only had £1 available to pay back. Judge John Potter said: "The available figure is a nominal sum given his circumstances. I come to the view a confiscation order of £1 should be made . There is no time to pay." Sarah Vine KC, for Coggins, told the court that her client had applied for his own proceeds of crime confiscation to be postponed for an expert report to confirm the crown's evaluation of the amount of drugs he trafficked to be correct. Judge Potter told the court Coggins and Earle, who was represented by Tara Riley, will appear for a fully contested proceeds of crime hearing on September 12. Detective chief inspector Dave Worthington , from the NWROCU's operations team, said: "These were extremely dangerous men, and had we not come across the serious threats of violence from the Coggins OCG through Operation Venetic – this could have been a very different outcome. "It's clear that the Coggins OCG thought they were untouchable, and their messages untraceable, but with support from the NCA and Merseyside Police , we were able to bring this criminal enterprise to its knees and prove them wrong. This crime group made substantial amounts of money through their ill-gotten gains. "The cash they made was moved and transferred via various means to launder it, which subsequently funded their lavish lifestyles. The sentences this crime group received shows that crime doesn't pay, and that we will stop at nothing to put those intent on flooding our streets with drugs and violence behind bars."
The Independent
12-04-2025
- The Independent
How drug traffickers used foie gras and duck breast to conceal £8m worth of cocaine
Four men have been jailed for attempting to smuggle £8 million worth of cocaine into the UK concealed beneath a cargo of foie gras and duck breast. Michael Keating, 56, his brother Matthew Keating, 49, Tanvir Hussain, 46, and Pierre Labelle, 48, were sentenced at Hove Crown Court on Friday following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The elaborate scheme was foiled in November 2019 when Border Force officers stopped their van as it entered Newhaven, East Sussex, from Dieppe. Although the van appeared to be carrying a legitimate shipment of expensive French delicacies, officers discovered 97kg of cocaine hidden beneath a false floor. This sophisticated concealment method highlights the lengths criminal gangs will go to in order to evade detection. Mark Ruff, a senior NCA officer, commended the Border Force officers for their vigilance, stating: "The cover load of foie gras and duck breast is highly unusual and Border Force colleagues did a superb job in seeing through it and the concealed floor." The NCA investigation showed the driver of the van was not involved in the offence. The offenders were traced as part of Operation Venetic, which the NCA launched after the takedown of the encrypted communications platform EncroChat. Michael Keating, of Uxbridge in Middlesex, used the platform to organise the plot and source the drugs through international connections, according to the NCA. Hussain, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, bought the van along with Labelle, who is from the Isle of Wight. Keating's younger brother Matthew also had an EncroChat phone, and they also used the platform to plan an 80kg importation of ketamine. During a search of Michael Keating's home, officers seized more than £50,000 cash and a notebook that appeared to contain EncroChat handles. He and Hussain were convicted after trial of conspiring to import cocaine at Hove Crown Court in February 2024. Michael Keating was sentenced on Friday to 24 years' imprisonment. Hussain was jailed for 10 years. Labelle admitted conspiracy to import cocaine in October 2023 and was jailed for 17 years. Keating's brother Matthew pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import ketamine in January 2024 and was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison. Mr Ruff said: 'This result demonstrates the determination of NCA officers to bring to justice all those involved in the importation of illegal drugs – whether they sort the logistics, knowingly transport the substances, or benefit financially from the trade. 'In this case, we proved the offenders' links and completely dismantled a crime group.' Mr Ruff added: 'The class A drugs trade fuels violence and misery at every step of its way to the UK. 'We will continue to work alongside partners at home and abroad to right the threat of Class A drugs.'
BBC News
25-03-2025
- BBC News
Rory Trainor: Man jailed for drug dealing and money laundering
A man given a suspended sentence 10 years ago after he was convicted in a multi-million pound money laundering case has been given a five-and-a-half-year sentence after admitting fresh offences. Rory Trainor pleaded guilty in 2024 to 38 new charges including drug dealing offences and money laundering, committed over a 10-week period in 2020. The 48-year-old from Dunbrae, Newry, was among hundreds of UK suspects arrested after European police infiltrated the EncroChat gangs around the world had been using the encrypted messaging service in the mistaken belief it was inaccessible to law enforcement agencies. The new charges Trainor faced included laundering or conspiring to launder more than £1.3m in cash in a series of communications with codenamed largest single sum he was accused of conspiring to launder was £227,435, but several of the offences involved sums of £100,000 or co-conspirators were referred to in the charges by their nicknames only, which included Knucklehead, Squarerevolver, Snailmallet and also admitted being concerned in the supply of Class A and Class B drugs, namely cocaine and cannabis. The offences all took place between March and June judge at Londonderry Crown Court on Tuesday sentenced Trainor to four years for the drugs offences and 18 months for the money laundering ordered the terms should be served consecutively, giving a total sentence of five-and-a-half years. Trainor has been in custody since October 2023. Operation Venetic Trainor was one of hundreds of people across the UK who were arrested as a result of the international EncroChat was a secretive communication network in which users could exchange encrypted messages on mobile phones that they believed police could not French and Dutch police managed to decode EncroChat's encryption system during the first Covid lockdown in April then shared the data with international police forces via Europol, including the UK National Crime Agency (NCA). In response, the NCA began to monitor and then arrest hundreds of suspects who had used EncroChat to arrange drug deals and other investigation was codenamed Operation Venetic, which the NCA described at the time as "the UK's biggest ever law enforcement operation". NI's 'biggest money laundering case' More than a decade has passed since Trainor was prosecuted for his role in one of the biggest money laundering cases to ever come before a Northern Ireland previously ran a bureau de change business on the Dublin Road in Newry which he used to launder millions of pounds for drug dealers and other criminals. More than £63m passed through his small office in the space of two-and-a-half years and Trainor was put under surveillance by revenue and customs footage filmed by HMRC showed Trainor handing over a bag filled with cash to a convicted drug dealer in a west Belfast car park. Trainor's Newry home was also raided twice by HMRC officers during the original investigation into his bureau de change business dealings. More than £150,000 in cash was discovered hidden in a floor safe and a beer cooler in his property at that time. Prosecutors also established he had used a stolen identity to move money to bank accounts in Bulgaria. Serious crime prevention order At that time, Trainor pleaded guilty converting the proceeds of crime for several criminal gangs, primarily drug pleading guilty to laundering what amounted to several million pounds, he walked free from court in 2014. Instead of a custodial sentence, Trainor was made the subject of a serious crime prevention judge in that case deferred the sentence for a year to see if Trainor would comply with the order. He was then given a suspended sentence in 2015.
