Many drug dealers live lives of luxury before they are brought down.
Splashing out on properties, flash cars and Rolex watches is par for the course as dealers spend their ill-gotten gains. However, the Proceeds of Crime Act means that their assets gained while they were committing crimes can be recovered once they've been convicted.
After a dealer has been sentenced, the court makes a confiscation order, which determines how much should be recovered. This considers how much the defendant has made from criminal acts and how much the defendant owns at the time of prosecution.
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Here, we look at the funds, assets and homes that have been seized from EncroChat drug dealers.
Properties, cars and Rolexes seized from drug boss who netted £28million
Properties, cars and Rolex watches have been seized from a drugs boss who made an astonishing £28million from his underworld dealings.
Jordan Talbot was jailed for 21 years and nine months back in 2021 over an EncroChat plot to supply more than 500kg of heroin and cocaine. The "top level controller" was hauled back before Liverpool Crown Court on Monday for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Richard Pratt KC, appearing on the 31-year-old's behalf, told the court that the prosecution and defence counsel had agreed that his client had benefited to the tune of a staggering £28,435,622 from his illicit activities. Of this vast sum, Talbot was said to have £400,000 available to repay currently.
This figure includes the £18,000 proceeds of the sale of a garage on Moore Street in Bootle which he formerly owned. This was the base of Moore Street Tyres Ltd, of which he was listed as a director on Companies House.
The tally was also contributed by Talbot's £22,100 share of equity in a house on Orlando Street. Two Rolex Yacht Master seized by police were valued at £11,600 and £9,000 respectively, with a Volkswagen Golf recovered adding £7,614.
Meanwhile, the grey BMW M140 he was driving when he was arrested as he tried to flee the UK to Spain with his girlfriend was said to be worth £19,195. A Ford Connect van, a Ford C-Max car and a quad bike contributed a further £1,000, £4,000 and £3,500.
Judge Neil Flewitt KC ordered that the £400,000 amount be repaid within three months. Talbot - who appeared via video link to HMP Manchester wearing a navy blue Montirex zip-up top and sporting short brown hair and a beard - will be required to serve an additional three years behind bars in default if he does not cough up.
EncroChat kingpin has to give up his home, Rolexes and Dubai gold
A drug kingpin who helped to smuggle up to £1.5m of cocaine across Europe was ordered to pay back part of his empire.
Thomas Maher is currently serving a 14 year prison sentence for using the EncroChat network to ferry drugs from Holland into the UK and Ireland. The haulage firm boss, from Warrington, was a vital "middle man" who decided the location where lorries would stop for handovers, who would be involved in the drop-offs and the prices agreed for his role as a crucial facilitator in the large-scale drug trafficking.
He was originally arrested after 39 dead bodies of Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a lorry in Essex in October 2019.
The dad-of-three was once the owner of that HGV, which was still registered in his wife’s name even after it was sold, but he was released with no further action taken in relation to that shocking tragedy.
But months later, investigators from the National Crime Agency swooped at his home in Wiltshire Close, Warrington, after experts smashed the encrypted EncroChat phone network.
He was arrested on June 13 2020 after NCA officers received intelligence that he planned to leave the country. Maher was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court in December 2020 after pleading guilty to importing class A drugs and money laundering.
He appeared back before Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, May 22. A judge ordered him to pay back £629,159.15, including his home in Warrington.
The confiscation order also included cars, lorries, jewellery, a number of high value Rolex watches, artwork and gold ingots bought in Dubai. Maher was given three months to pay or faces an extra six years in jail.
Notorious drug gang ordered to pay back fraction of £20m profits
Six people who benefited from the drug dealings of an organised crime group (OCG) will repay just a fraction of the £20m profits.
The OCG was led by brothers Alan and John Tobin who supplied hundreds of kilos of narcotics to notorious gangs across the UK. While maintaining the veneer of respectability due to their public service work, the brothers lived a second life as EncroChat dealers "CapeRocket" and "SlightDrake".
For more than four years, between 2016 and 2020, the Tobins enlisted couriers utilising specially adapted vehicles with secret "hide" compartments to ferry drugs across the UK. Among their infamous customers were two Warrington firms - Anthony and Leon Cullen's heavily armed gang and a group headed by Jamie Oldroyd - plus a Liverpool outfit led by Lee Stoba.
The brothers were supported by heavyweight MMA fighter Robbie "the Bear" Broughton, whose role included collecting cash and using his muscle to enforce debts. Enjoying the high-life off the back of the gang's illegal labour were Ellie Tobin, also known as Helen Hartley, her mum Ann Hartley and Kathryn Walker.
The women enjoyed expensive holidays, cars and designer clothing after helping move drug money through their banks. But the six members of the OCG, who were collectively jailed for more than 69 years, were ordered to pay over £500,000 and have had their homes seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
At the final hearing on Friday, March 10, a judge ruled the six had benefited from the crime group to the sum of £20,098,000. The court ordered them to pay within the next three months - or face a further two years imprisonment. This sum has been partly determined from equity in Helen Hartley and Ann Hartley's homes in Widnes and Liverpool which will need to be sold, along with cash, jewellery, designer clothing and funds from bank accounts.
Rolexes, Gucci shoes, Audi and £70,000 seized from EncroChat gang
Rolex watches, designer clothes and £70,000 in cash was seized when police raided the homes of three EncroChat dealers.
Ashley Moorcroft, aka "RustyPalace", was involved in importing cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamine, then supplying it across the UK. He worked closely with Jonathan McKeown, aka "BushTern", who brokered deals for the drugs up and down the country, and kept a "meticulously recorded" ledger, showing more than £1m in cash changing hands.
Painter and decorator Craig Murray, aka "MicroBlue" and formerly "ZanyForce", transported drugs and cash in vehicles with concealed "slots" or "hides". But all three men serving long jail sentences after the EncroChat hack of 2020 stopped them spreading "abject misery" for significant profits.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Moorcroft, 33, was arrested at his home in Halsnead, Wavertree on May 6, 2021, when his partner and children were present. Police seized £8,925 in cash, four Rolex watches, one Kenevo specialised electric bike and charger, and designer clothing and shoes. Merseyside Police said they also recovered an Audi.
McKeown, 36, was arrested when officers raided his home in Marlborough Road, Waterloo that same day. They recovered £12,750 in cash.
Murray, 41, was twice arrested, firstly on June 17, 2020, when £36,710 was found at his Simonscroft, Netherton home. On May 6, 2021, officers struck again, when a further £14,000 in cash was seized.
Jamie Baxter, prosecuting, said RustyPalace (Moorcroft) was a "senior figure" in the conspiracy "involved in the importation of both Class A and B drugs from outside of the UK", then their onward supply. He said MicroBlue (Murray) was a "valued resource" who worked predominantly alongside Moorcroft, but also with others to transport drugs and cash.
The court heard he did this by using "sophisticated methods of concealment" referred to as "slots" in vehicles consisting of "manufactured hides". Evidence showed he carried out this role for a "wage".
Mr Baxter said BushTern (McKeown) operated at a similar level to Moorcroft and "was involved in the commercial and almost daily supply of Class A and B drugs, sourcing and brokering multi-kilogram transactions within the UK". He added: "The notes section of the BushTern device acted as a drugs supply ledger, which was meticulously recorded and spanned approximately 93 pages."
Mr Baxter said the earliest entry on the notes was for September 6, 2019, which predated the conspiracy period between March 20, 2020 and May 31, 2020 when the EncroChat data was captured, but indicated his criminality. He said: "There is reference to 'tops' [kilo amounts of cocaine], different strains of cannabis and significant quantities of cash, over £1,000,000, which has been 'passed'."
EncroChat money laundering operation shut down as £500,000 seized
A money laundering operation discovered in the EncroChat hack was dismantled as police seized £500,000 in cash alongside high value watches.
Detectives from Merseyside Police's Economic Crime Team and the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) conducted raids across Allerton, Norris Green and Walton in October and arrested a 41-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to launder money.
Pictures released by the force show a number of watches wrapped in kitchen roll while other images show a large stack of cash concealed in a tarpaulin.
A BB gun was also recovered in the raids. Detective Sergeant Rob Brown said: "This arrest forms part of a long-running investigation into money laundering via suspected use of ‘EncroChat’ devices. The man will now be questioned and our investigation continues, working alongside our colleagues in the NWROCU and under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
"We will do everything in our powers under POCA to thoroughly investigate and recover the benefit those we suspect of illegal activity. We want to claim back the money and lifestyle that was never rightfully theirs and where we can, reinvest this in those communities who feel the harm of criminal activity."
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