The leader of a drugs ring with links to Dubai, India and Iran netted netted more than £700,000 from his illicit dealings.
The organised crime group, led by Ricardo Hughes, moved hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of amphetamine branded with pictures of Beano character Billy Whizz. Investigations into the ring also brought down Andrew Lenehan, who boasted connections across the globe.
Gang members were previously jailed for a combined total of more than 40 years. Hughes was hauled back before Liverpool Crown Court this week for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
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Cheryl Mottram, prosecuting, told the court on Friday that the 55-year-old was found to have benefited from his involvement to the tune of £706,952.45. He currently has available assets totalling £307,794.40, including the proceeds of the sale of his matrimonial home, and will be required to pay up this sum within three months.
Judge Brian Cummings KC ruled that the defendant - who was also handed a serious crime prevention order, to begin upon his release from custody and lasting five years - be given an additional three years behind bars in default of this payment. However, Hughes - who appeared via video link to HMP Garth in Lancashire - would still be liable to pay the sum in this event.
A previous POCA hearing was told that 58-year-old Lenehan, of Scarisbrick Road in Walton, had an overall benefit figure of £745,511.15. His available assets were ruled to be £30,828.29.
Meanwhile David Hunter, who played a "leading" role in the OCG, pocketed a £166,447.47. However the 49-year-old - of Larch Close in Billinge, St Helens - was not found to have any recoverable assets and a nominal sum of £1, which was deemed to have been paid by the court, was imposed.
He was also subjected to a SCPO, to last for five years following his release from prison. "Trusted lieutenant" Christopher Dooley gained £256,213.75 through his involvement, but the 36-year-old - of no fixed address but from St Helens - was also told to repay only £1.
The court previously heard that the "Billy Whizz" gang moved nearly 50kg of amphetamine, drugs worth up to £500,000. The substance is commonly nicknamed speed or whizz, hence the inspiration for the cartoon packaging.
Detectives from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit busted the OCG after launching an undercover surveillance operation into its activities in February 2020. NWROCU said the investigation revealed what proved to be a "large-scale drug dealing business with connections around the UK".
But it was EncroChat messages, recovered that year as part of the hack of the encrypted mobile phone network commonly utilised by gangsters, which provided officers with the additional evidence they needed to blow the lid on the drug dealing network. Hughes - who used the handle Nova Coast - Hunter and Dooley, aka Octo Ox, were identified as key players in the plot, supplying both cocaine and amphetamine across the UK.
Meanwhile, Hunter was also conspiring with others to supply ketamine, another class B drug. The gang bought and sold more 49kg of amphetamine, worth up to £490,000, between February 2020 and March 2021.
Hughes, of Rock Lane in Widnes, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years in July 2021 after organising the handover of drugs with third parties. Hunter was sentenced to nine years and seven months.
Dooley, received nine years and "trusted courier" Stephen Piert - of Harlow Close in St Helens - was locked up for two years and seven months after the 27-year-old moved amphetamine for the gang. Another courier who transported amphetamines across the UK - 36-year-old Neal Rodgers, of Howard Street in Thatto Heath - was given a 12-month imprisonment suspended for two years.
And 33-year-old Paul Lever - of Hauxwell Grove, St Helens - also received 12 months suspended for two years. He had managed the gang's "safehouse".
Then came the rumbling of Anthony Lenehan, a bonus for the undercover team which came after messages between him - using the handle Jet Hawk - and Hughes were revealed. Their conversations centred on the supply of cocaine across the UK.
Communications suggested the former was involved in "supplying cocaine at a regional level " and had "successfully imported 100kg into Hamburg". Lenehan had worked with others to order the massive haul, 8kg of which was his.
Further messages stated he was handed 2kg of cocaine as part-payment for a debt, while further discussions plotted the sale of kilogram amounts of the class A drug for prices between £37,000 and £39,000. The dealer, who lived in Dubai before he was jailed, appeared to be chasing debts owed by people in India and Iran and revealed how he was holding onto the vehicle of another dealer who owed him £155,000.
One of the topics of conversation that helped detectives to identify him was an HMRC investigation that saw him arrested over allegations linked to cigarette importation. As part of the HMRC probe, Lenehan had his passport confiscated.
In response, he applied for a new one - claiming his old one had been lost. This was said to have represented a "deliberate attempt to gain a new passport knowing his old one hadn't been lost".
Lenehan admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and making a false statement to gain a passport. He was handed eight years and 10 months in October 2021.
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