An EncroChat dealer flooded towns and cities across the UK with high purity cocaine from Colombia.
Dean Anderson, who used the handles ‘tendayer’ and ‘famoussquid’, was described as being "top of the tree" of an organised crime gang supplying drugs across the country.
Anderson, who was the owner of Bromborough Skip Hire at the time, was found to have sourced, purchased and sold approximately 30kg of cannabis, 20kg of heroin and 20kg of high purity cocaine between April 3, 2020 and June 2, 2020. It is believed Bromborough Skip Hire is now under new ownership with no connection to Anderson's crimes, Cheshire Live reports.
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Anderson, of Tudorville Road in Higher Bebington, Wirral, used the EncroChat network to run his large-scale business, and sold large quantities of drugs to Scotland and various other towns and cities across the UK. In encrypted messages he agreed to facilitate the supply of high purity cocaine direct from Colombia into the UK for onward distribution.
One of his customers was 32-year-old Mark Cavanagh, previously of Foxdene in Ellesmere Port, who controlled an organised crime group that was supplying class A drugs to users in the town and in Chester. Cavanagh was part of Operation Olympia, a 10-month investigation by the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, that led to Anderson's capture and the dismantlement of his gang.
Anderson was arrested at a flat in Liverpool on 11 September 2020, and appeared at Chester Crown Court on Friday, September 2nd. He pled guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine and cannabis.
Sentencing Anderson to 14 years and four months, Judge Steven Everett described him as being at the "top of the tree" in his level of drug supply and destroying the lives of the people trapped in drug addiction. Detective Chief Inspector Ian Murray, of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “Anderson was at the top of the chain when it came to operating in serious and organised crime.
“He was at the highest level running a serious and large-scale commercial drugs business supplying substantial amounts of cocaine, heroin and cannabis purely to make a profit. He chose to do this by operating under the radar, using an encrypted and sophisticated device that would keep his communication secretive in order to avoid detection.
“After EncroChat was infiltrated officers were able to comb through the messages attributed to Anderson that led to his arrest and being put behind bars for a long time.”
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