Yahoo News Manchester gangster arrested at ferry port after fleeing UK
A dealer who collected £5.8 million of drug money went on the run as the net closed around him. Thomas Bradley, 33, was working as part of a criminal network which peddled huge quantities of cocaine and heroin.
He and three of his associates were the latest to be caught in the law enforcement infiltration of the EncroChat network, where criminals openly discussed their business. Using the damning messages, police built a case against Bradley, Nathan Lobley, Craig Ganson and Paul Taylor, who used anonymous handles.
But prosecutors were able to prove they were the men behind the anonymous accounts. Lobley, 38, was known as 'carrottoxic’, Bradley as 'lovelyseal', Ganson, 43, as 'paperboar' and Taylor, 46, as ‘augeroooo', Greater Manchester Police said.
Messages on the platform also revealed that Lobley had a firearm which he arranged to pass on to a third party. GMP said Lobley had taken possession of at least 19 kilos of cocaine, which had a street value of between £684,000 and £798,000, which he sold on.
The force said Bradley collected cash from 20 other Encrochat users. GMP said: "He was collecting on an almost daily basis and had collected approximately £2 million a month. Between 16 March 2020 and 31 May 2020, he had collected £5.8 million."
Ganson was described by GMP as a 'wholesale regional supplier of cocaine and heroin', who purchased at least 11kg of cocaine and 2kg of heroin, worth more than £400,000 between April and June 2020.
Taylor was said to have purchased a kilo of cocaine on 21 April 2020 for £37,000, and passed £80,390 to Bradley during the conspiracy period. GMP held a 'strike day' on March 2022. They said Bradley went on the run, but was arrested returning to the UK via Holyhead on December 3 that year.
GMP said that during a hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court, Lobley, of Ashfield Drive, Newton Heath, was jailed for 14 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and for supplying a firearm and ammunition.
Bradley, of Mellalieu Street, Middleton was sentenced to nine years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and money laundering. Ganson, of Fernhurst Street, Chadderton was jailed for seven years and ten months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs. Taylor, of Pargate Close, Norden, Rochdale was sentenced to five years eight months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and money laundering.
After the hearing, DC David Grimshaw, from GMP's Serious Organised Crime Group, said: “We are pleased with the result, which has seen these men taken off the streets for a considerable period of time. Our investigation was a complex one and I would like to thank everyone who played a role.
"Not only have we taken four drug dealers off the streets of Manchester, we have also disrupted a supplier of firearms. Manchester communities should not have to live among drug dealers, and we are committed to ensuring that we identify, locate and remove these offenders.
"Organised crime can have an unprecedented effect on these communities, and it is vital that our work in this area continues. These men thought they were hiding behind an encrypted communication system that would mean identifying them would be difficult, but it wasn’t.
"They openly communicated through this system, which has led to them going straight to prison. We would urge anyone who has any information regarding drug dealing or other organised crimes taking place in their communities to come forward so we can get dangerous individuals off the street.”
