A detective has spoken of the painstaking work involved in bringing a drug trafficking ring involving corrupt Royal Marine Commandos to justice.
Scotland based Detective Constable Gary McArthur, of the Ministry of Defence Police, has been honoured for his work poring over thousands of EncroChat messages between the traffickers - cracking a remarkable case.
DC McArthur and his colleagues proved how marines Grant Broadfoot and Stuart Bryant signed out a Ministry of Defence van on the pretence of visiting shooting ranges at Altcar Training Camp in Hightown. But the naval officers were in fact using the MOD vehicle to collect cannabis from a location on the outskirts of Formby and smuggle it into Scotland.
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Grant Broadfoot also abused his role as an ammunitions storeman to sell rounds from Royal Navy base HM Faslane to potential buyers via EncroChat. Using the handle "VeteranPants" the 29-year-old boasted that he could source bullets for machine guns and semi-automatic pistols including Glocks.
But the Royal Marines' drug plot unravelled as part of an investigation that also snared Walton cocaine, heroin and cannabis trafficker, Jacob Bullen, aka EncroChat drug courier "HeroicFox". And it ended when police acting on "reliable and credible intelligence" caught the pair red handed with 30 vacuum-sealed bags of cannabis.
As part of the operation, DC McArthur embedded himself with Merseyside Police for several months. He was last week named the winner of the 'Investigation of the Year' award by the Defence Police Federation.
He told our sister paper, the Daily Record : "We had to read every word of every line of the messages that were sent by the criminals – there were no shortcuts. In total we were looking at 25 to 30,000 messages; one of the men alone had sent 18,000 messages.
"We were looking for evidential incrimination, but the biggest challenge was the attribution process, because the EncroChat handles were made-up names, so it was a process of finding clues to work out who these guys were.
"But it was the most interesting thing I’ve ever done. It was challenging because there were time constraints, and it was all-encompassing, it took over my life for months, it was stressful. When the suspects were arrested, I felt relief, and also a lot of pride.”
In April this year, Glasgow's High Court heard how Broadfoot and Bryant's crimes took place between November 2019 and June 2020. They were unearthed by military police working with Merseyside Police as part of an investigation into Broadfoot's activities dubbed 'Operation Final'.
Officers were told that drugs would be transported from Merseyside to Scotland in a Transit van owned by the MOD. The Transit van, driven by Broadfoot, and a Renault van, driven by Bryant, were seen to pull up alongside each other in Glasgow's Mount Vernon district on June 3, 2020.
John McElroy, prosecuting, said both men were halted by officers and Broadfoot told them: "It's nothing to do with me." His 62-year-old father, Ian Broadfoot, was found sitting in the driver's seat of the Renault.
A search of the Transit van recovered 11 vacuum sealed bags of cannabis, while the Renault contained 19 bags. Grant Broadfoot's then home in the city's Baillieston area was raided and £27,370 of cash was discovered in a brown box.
A search of his dad's property in Mount Vernon revealed £21,030 in mixed notes, a vacuum sealer machine and a bag of cannabis. There was also other drug paraphernalia stashed in his garage.
When quizzed by police, Bryant claimed he was told to pick up "unknown" items near an MOD training camp in Merseyside in exchange for money. The court heard Bryant said he was "suffering significant financial difficulty" and Grant Broadfoot had offered him cash to carry out the task.
Mr McElroy said the street value of the drugs seized was estimated at £301,820.
Grant Broadfoot's accommodation at Faslane was searched and a Tesco bag containing live ammunition, casing and a large bullet was recovered. The EncroChat hack revealed that Grant Broadfoot conducted his operations on the secret phone network under the handle "VeteranPants".
Examples of Grant Broadfoot's conversations from March to June 2020 were read to the court. They included organising money drop offs and directing drivers, including Bryant, who was unable to perform a job on one occasion due to contracting coronavirus.
Mr McElroy said: "In April 2020, Grant Broadfoot appears to be offering to supply ammunition. The significance being that he had access to ammunition at Faslane Naval due to his position as an ammunitions storeman."
Grant Broadfoot was quoted as telling a potential buyer: "Put the feelers out and if you get a bite I'll get them, I'm in control of the ammunition. It's just me and a couple of other boys here though, I'd need to file the batch number off each round."
He was also noted as telling another contact: "I can sort you out with ammo...I've got contacts available. I've got 7.62 machine gun rounds, 5.56 semi-automatic rounds and 9mm Glock rounds."
In May 2020, Grant Broadfoot told a contact "I have ministry of defence vans" and explained how he signed them out when he needed them, under the pretence of visiting the shooting ranges at Altcar. The court heard he was also seen to arrange the collection of drugs "using MOD transport" in June 2020.
Mr McElroy said Bryant's conversations also revealed he had "a much bigger role in transporting drugs". One contact even compared him to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
In May 2022, the five main suspects - including Royal Marine Commandos Stuart Bryant and Grant Broadfoot - all pleaded guilty to the charges in Merseyside and Glasgow Courts.
They were sentenced to a total of 69 years imprisonment, with individuals receiving between three years and 9 months to 20 years imprisonment.
Broadfoot, 30, was jailed for five years and three months after pleading guilty to being involved in serious organised crime. Stuart Bryant, then 31, was sentenced to three years and nine months after he admitted being involved in the supply of cannabis.
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