Drugs network police raid discovers £1.6m under bed
MORE than £1.6 million was found under a divan bed when police raided a luxury apartment allegedly been converted into a cash safe house for a major drugs network.
Officers swooped on Kenelm Road, Sutton Coldfield, having monitored the address for several days and observed suspected couriers coming and going.
They were forced to act swiftly when criminals throughout the country were put on alert that their communication network of choice, EncroChat, had been ‘compromised’ by police investigators.
It prompted the National Crime Agency to launch Operation Venetic, the biggest operation of its kind in the UK, which resulted in hundreds of arrests and huge hauls of guns, drugs and cash seized.
A large chunk of that dirty money was recovered from the apartment in Sutton Coldfield.
Officers also seized counting machines, suitcases, digital scales, a sealing machine, plastic bags and a ledger which detailed months worth of cash collections.
Birmingham Magistrates’ Court granted the the NCA’s application for the forfeiture of the seized cash from one of the alleged cash couriers. Following months of delays to ensure he and any other ‘interested parties’ were notified, he failed to attend the hearing to oppose the move.
The raid took place in June last year with the cash recovered totalling £1,656,040.
Det Con Derek Tinsley, from the NCA, said: “Those operating those EncroChat phones realised they had been compromised which forced the NCA to take action.
“We had possession of some of the information. Analysis of that revealed a crime group operating drug importation and supply.”
He told the court officers identified a suspected courier who made references to ‘returning to the base’ with surveillance teams tracking him down to Kenelm Road during the week commencing June 8 last year. They lay in wait as he headed towards the luxury apartments. The NCA secured a warrant after word spread that EncroChat had been busted, but no-one was in the apartment when officers forced entry.
DC Tinsley said: “As officers were searching they lifted up a divan bed and discovered within that a substantial amount of cash – just over £1.6m. It was apparent the cash in the left hand side of the bed had been counted and in the right hand side were bags of uncounted cash.”