A trucking boss who led a double life as drugs baron has been ordered to pay back £630,000. Thomas Maher, aged 42, was sentenced to 14 years and eight months in prison in December 2020 for moving drugs and dirty cash across Europe.
Before his activities were exposed he lived in a modest three bedroom detached house. But parked on the driveway at various times were a Range Rover, a Land Rover, a sleek, black Mercedes GLS worth £150,000, a BMW and a £70,000 imported Corvette.
Inside the home, on a modern estate in a suburb, were pieces of art - including a map of the world made from bullets. He also owned around £600,000 worth of watches and splashed out on holidays, spending £70,000 on breaks in around three years.
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He would fly to Dubai, Mexico and New York - business class or first class. He hired a private helicopter in New York.
Evidence obtained by the National Crime Agency as part of Operation Venetic – the UK law enforcement response to the takedown of encrypted global communications service EncroChat – showed that he operated a transportation network spanning Europe, moving drugs into the UK and Ireland and the profits in the other direction.
In one exchange of messages with a criminal associate he bragged that he had been involved in organised crime for more than 20 years. Yesterday (22 May) a judge at Liverpool Crown Court made a confiscation order for £629,159.15, including his house in Warrington, cars, lorries, jewellery, a number of high value watches, artwork and gold ingots bought in Dubai. He has three months to pay or faces an extra six years in jail.
From the sofa of his home on Wiltshire Close in Woolston, Warrington, Maher was conducting up to a dozen conversations a day using the 'EncroChat' network.
He had a key role as 'professional facilitator', say police, providing the transport and contacts for a Europe-wide smuggling operation, bringing drugs, including cocaine, to Ireland.
His handles, while using the encrypted messaging platform to seal deals, were 'Satirical' and later 'Snacker' - it's thought the latter was linked to his habit for having takeaways delivered to his door on lockdown.
His downfall stemmed from the tragic discovery of 39 Vietnamese people who suffocated in a lorry in Essex. His home in Woolston was raided after the terrible find in October 2019, as the tractor unit involved was at one point owned by him and was still registered in his wife’s name even after it was sold.
Maher has not faced any action in connection with that enquiry and there's no suggestion he was involved in that criminal enterprise. However that investigation triggered a National Crime Agency financial inquiry into Maher. They were tipped off by Essex police who were suspicious of his lavish spending.
During a seven month surveillance operation NCA officers watched Maher meet with criminal associates at hotels and in public spaces in the North West to organise the trafficking of cocaine from the Netherlands to the UK and Ireland. As well as drugs, Maher also helped to facilitate the movement of large sums of cash, charging a commission for his involvement.
NCA officers arrested Maher on 13 June 2020 at his home in Warrington, after receiving intelligence that he planned to leave the country. He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court in December 2020 after pleading guilty to importing class A drugs and money laundering.
Commenting on the confiscation order slapped on Maher, the NCA’s Head of Asset Denial, Rob Burgess, said: “This significant result demonstrates the agency’s ability to recover criminal assets, and prevent criminals from benefitting from their wrongdoing. Thomas Maher was a career criminal who was trusted by some of Europe’s biggest crime groups to move their drugs and money. The confiscation order will ensure money he made will be returned to the public purse to fund further efforts to protect the public from organised crime.”
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