Manchester and Sefton gang leaders who swapped cars for drugs jailed – BBC.com
Two men who imported huge quantities of cocaine and cannabis, swapped amphetamines for cars and used fellow criminals' families to launder their profits have been jailed.
Remez Caffrey, 24, of Manchester, and John Chean, 34, of Sefton, were caught after police cracked the secret messaging network Encrochat in 2020.
Intercepted messages showed they bought drugs worth more than £420,000.
Caffrey was sentenced to 11 years three months and Chean was given six years.
Greater Manchester Police said Caffrey, of Chelston Avenue in Manchester, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis, cocaine and amphetamine and conspiracy to import a controlled drug at Manchester Crown Court.
Chean, of Chiltern Court in Sefton, but previously of Liverpool, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and amphetamine and dangerous driving.
A spokesman said the force tracked messages which showed the two "high-ranking members" of an organised crime gang had struggled to source cocaine between April 2020 and June 2020 due to the restrictions put in place at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, he said the men had subsequently purchased 5.5lbs (2.5kg) of cocaine, 134lbs (61kg) of amphetamine and 97lbs (44kg) of cannabis, which had a combined estimated street value of more than £420,000.
He said the pair would often offer vehicles, instead of money, in exchange for the drugs and had swapped a new Mercedes for 39lbs (18kg) of amphetamine on one occasion.
The unencrypted messages revealed the pair asked one Encrochat user to pass their profits through family members "to clean the money" and discussed smuggling drugs from Denmark and Belgium to the UK with another user, the spokesman said.
He added that analysis of their communications had also revealed the pair were involved in the theft of cannabis from a farm in Oldham operated by a rival crime group.
The pair were arrested in raids on their homes in March 2021, in which officers also seized £2,940.
Speaking after sentencing, Det Con Darren Wayman said the pair had been responsible for "the purchase and importation of huge quantities of drugs".
"Today's sentencing is a significant result for the team after months of gruelling and intricate investigative work to help identify, arrest and convict these two," he added.
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