Wigan cocaine boss rumbled after posting beer snap online
- Published
The boss of a huge cocaine empire was caught after he posted a photograph of himself drinking beer on a secret messaging app being monitored by police.
Leon Atkinson led a gang involved in drug deals worth £9m in just three months, Greater Manchester Police said.
The 41-year-old was captured when detectives accessed messages on the EncroChat network used by the dealers.
Atkinson, of Wigan, was jailed for 15 years at Manchester Crown Court.
He and four others admitted a raft of offences including conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and money laundering.
The plot was uncovered after detectives infiltrated the communications system as part of Operation Venetic.
Atkinson was identified as the ringleader when he sent the photograph, taken in his garden during England's first coronavirus lockdown in 2020, to a leading member of another drugs gang.
The dark web messages revealed how Atkinson's gang was arranging the purchase and transport of huge quantities of cocaine with another gang member Abdul Ghafar, 46.
Distributors Adam Marsden, 37, and Nathan Powell, 31, sourced and supplied over six stone (40kg) of cocaine between them.
Atkinson, of Brindley Close, Atherton, Marsden, of Taunton Avenue, Rochdale, and Ghafar, of Halifax Road, Nelson, all admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
Marsden was sentenced to nine years and eight months while Ghafar received a jail term of eight years and eight months.
Powell, of Cheney Close, Openshaw, admitted the same offences and is due to be sentenced on Thursday.
Also involved in the dealing was Romiz Ahmad, 39, of Rossall Road, Rochdale, who was convicted of money laundering vast sums of cash on behalf of the gang.
Ahmad, who denied dealing in criminal property, was jailed for six years after a jury convicted him in February.
Det Insp Roger Smethurst said: "This was an extremely sophisticated drugs gang that effectively distributed mass quantities of cocaine across the North West."
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- Published2 July 2020