Irish haulier jailed for smuggling cocaine in Europe
AN Irish haulage boss who transported cocaine and money across Europe has been jailed for 14 years and eight months.
Thomas Maher (40) was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday after he pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy to commit a crime abroad at an earlier hearing.
The court heard that between March and May he played a role in conspiracies to move £1.5m of cocaine from the Netherlands to Ireland, via the UK, and to launder about £1m cash between Ireland and the Netherlands.
The father-of-three, of Warrington, Cheshire, used the encrypted phone network Encrochat — accessed by law agencies across Europe earlier this year — to plan the transportation, the court heard.
Sentencing him, Judge David Aubrey QC said: “You were an extremely important cog in the wheel of a sophisticated network of distribution of class A controlled drugs which had an international element.
“You were a trusted organiser, playing a part in where goods were to be exchanged, how parties would be able to identify each other when drugs were to be conveyed and how.
“Drugs cause desperation and misery. They are a cancer in our midst, but for those like you it matters not as long as financial profit is being achieved.”
The judge said Maher, the owner of Thomas Maher Transport Ltd, provided “expertise” from owning a haulage business within the operation.
Catherine Rabaiotti, prosecuting, said Maher was arrested at his home on June 13, the same day Encrochat issued an alert telling users it had been compromised. Neither of the two Encrochat devices linked to him were recovered, the court heard.
Ms Rabaiotti said messages showed him acting as a go-between and “logistics manager”.
She added: “Passwords, times, details of stops and prices were passed through the defendant, (who was) acting as a middle man for the parties.”
Maher, who used the Encrochat handles Satirical and Snacker for his messages, was arrested in October last year after the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in a shipping container in Essex but was never charged in connection with the deaths.
A spokesman for the National
Crime Agency (NCA) said officers seized vehicles including a high-end Range Rover, a Land Rover Discovery and an imported Corvette worth £70,000 following his arrest.
He spent thousands on holidays to Dubai, Mexico and New York and while in Dubai bought artwork including a map of the world made up of bullets, the spokesman said.
John Dye, defending, said Maher received between 3,000 and 5,000 euros (£2,700 to £4,500) for the plots he was charged with involvement in.
He added: “That’s a very small amount compared to the value of the overall conspiracy.”
Mr Dye said Maher had pleaded guilty and not attempted to legally challenge the evidence from the Encrochat devices, adding: “He has been brave enough to put up his hands as quickly as possible and not mess the court around.”
NCA branch commander Martin Clarke said: “Maher moved in the highest criminal circles, acting as a logistics man for some of the UK, Ireland and Europe’s most notorious organised crime groups, who trusted him with their drugs and money.
“We believe the offences he has been convicted of represent just the tip of the iceberg in terms of his overall criminality.”