Haulage boss held over 39 lorry deaths admits drug trafficking

A HAULAGE boss arrested over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in a shipping container faces a ‘substantial’ prison sentence for trafficking drugs after police cracked an encrypted criminal phone network.

Thomas Maher, 39, was registered as the last owner of the cab which had towed the lorry trailer from a cross-Channel ferry to Grays, Essex, last October.

The Irish-born father-of-three, pictured, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter but was not charged.

But last June he was held again after the National Crime Agency (NCA) hacked the ‘uncrackable’ EncroChat phones used by organised criminals in a breakthrough dubbed Operation Venetic.

Messages showed that Maher – described as ‘ the logistics man for a number of crime groups’ – had been co-ordinating a transport network to import drugs from the continent and funnel cash in the opposite direction, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Agents monitored his movements over seven months during which he met associates at hotels and in public spaces in north-west England to organise cocaine shipments, the NCA said.

Last April he orchestrated the collection and delivery of at least 21kg (46lb) of cocaine from locations in the Netherlands, it added.

Yesterday Maher pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy to commit a crime abroad between March 28 and May 11.

They included two charges of conspiracy to import class A drugs into Ireland and two of transferring criminal property into Ireland, 300,000 euros (£274,000) in April and 600,000 euros (£549,000) in May.

Maher pleaded not guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit a crime abroad, that of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to fellow haulier Ronan Hughes. The final charge will not be prosecuted. Hughes, 40, from Co Armagh in Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last month to 39 counts of manslaughter in relation to the migrants’ death as well as conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. He is awaiting sentence. Remanding him in custody, Judge Brian Cummings QC told Maher he was ‘facing a substantial custodial sentence’.

Craig Naylor, of the NCA, said: ‘ Maher was the logistics man for a number of groups... Operation Venetic has halted thousands of conspiracies and led to the arrests of hundreds of suspects. Maher was undoubtedly one of the most significant.’

He will be sentenced in December.