An EncroChat dealer planned to flood the UK with 100kg of cocaine from Colombia.
Dean Smith, who used the handle 'Swampmaster' was reportedly "close to the top" of the drug supply business and helped to supply class A drugs on a "huge scale" across the country. The 27-year-old, of Seymour Drive in Ellesmere Port was the direct supplier to prolific drug barons Mark Cavanagh and Michael Hailwood and worked alongside Dean Anderson , who was jailed last month, to distribute multi-kilos of heroin, cocaine and cannabis.
Alongside Anderson, and independently, Smith was found to have distributed 8kg of heroin, 19kg of cocaine and 30kg of cannabis nationally and into Scotland. He was also in direct contact with individuals in the Colombia region trying to import 100kg of cocaine into the UK.
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Smith was arrested in possession of his EncroChat mobile phone which was found smashed up in his van after international law enforcement had intercepted the network. A bag full of cash and kilos of cannabis were also recovered.
Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs and was jailed for 13 years on Friday, September 30 at Chester Crown as part of Cheshire Constabulary's Operation Olympia run by the Serious and Organised Crime Unit.
Judge Everett said Smith had contacts close to the source of drug supply and was in it purely for financial gain. Last month, Dean Anderson, who used the handles ‘tendayer’ and ‘famoussquid’, was sentenced to 14 years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine and cannabis.
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.
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.
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