Gun gang panic watched empire
Encrochat messages revealed
ENCROCHAT messages reveal the sheer scale of the empire of the biggest firearms trafficking gang the UK has ever seen.
Members watched their mammoth operation crumbled... and couldn’t hide their sheer panic.
The encrypted devices were once ubiquitous among top-tier criminals - a means of communicating under the radar while pulling the strings on elaborate drugs and gun operations.
That was until June 2020. when the criminals’ trusted method of doing business came under attack.
Dutch and French law enforcement officials were closing in.
The Encrochat system was hacked.
It led to an avalanche of investigations and cases before the criminal courts.
Huge illicit organisations scrambled to cover their tracks.
The secrets of the murky criminal underworld were on show for all to see.
Hundreds of thousands of messages revealed how organised criminal groups operated.
Tonnes of Class As were bought and sold via the network. Guns and ammo were flogged in abundance.
Scores of headlines on Encrochat outfits facing justice across Europe followed.
Here in the UK, the National Crime Agency (NCA) found itself with a treasure trove of evidence to unpick.
Specialists at the agency briefed police forces across the country on who was operating on their patch.
The latest case before a court r was different.
It was a huge bust for Greater Manchester Police.
Not only did the gang deal in drugs - in enormous quantities - it dealt in firearms on a scale never seen before on UK soil.
As cops and NCA officials dug, it became clear this was no ordinary operation.
What unfolded was staggering.
The gang, it would transpire,
was responsible the biggest firearms trafficking ring this country has ever uncovered.
It flooded the streets with more than 100 guns.
GMP’S Operation Glassy saw two submachine guns seized; two self-loading pistols; drugs; ammunition; and a suitcase containing over £600,000 in cash.
Seven men have now been convicted of a raft of offences following a monthlong trial.
Conor Sandlan, 32, of Redfearn Wood, Rochdale, was the first to be arrested.
Mohammed Omar Malik, Daniel Gibbons, Daniel Waters, Sean Hogan, Andrew Cooney, Conor Sandlan and Adrian Gonzales face lengthy sentences. They will go before judge to learn their fates later this year.
Hundreds of messages shared between members of group give a remarkable insight into the ‘mates’ who frequently shared pictures of guns and discussed drugs prices.
On March 23 2020, Sandlan, using the handle ‘stellarboat’ sent a number of messages to Malik, who used the handle ‘payyabills.’
He said: “Morning bro... My encro wouldn’t start all morning... I’m going to sort them straps out now can you send me order.”
‘Straps,’ the court heard, is a common term for guns.
In another chat that day, ‘stellarboat’ sent ‘payyabills’ a message reading: “Want me to bring 10 with me of leave?”
A subsequent message read: “Ok. 10 ready there with 300 sweets.”
‘Sweets’ is a term for bullets.
The court heard 30 bullets were usually supplied with firearms orders.
‘Got a lad wanting 5 for cash’
Two days later, Waters ‘obscuretwig’ - and ‘stellarboat’ had the following exchange:
‘Obscuretwig’ to ‘stellarboat’: “Hello mate u good.”
‘Stellarboat’ to ‘obscuretwig’: “Yes bro. What happening?”
‘Obscuretwig’ to ‘stellarboat’: “nm bored lol we got any tops in.” (Tops is the slang term for cocaine)
‘Stellarboat’ to ‘obscuretwig’: “o bro. Absolutely nothing. Who needs?”
‘Obscuretwig’ to ‘stellarboat’: “Got a lad wanting 5 for cash.”
‘Stellarboat’ to ‘obscuretwig’: “I’ll ask wrong.”
‘Obscuretwig’ to ‘stellarboat’: “Yea he get can f1 for 42k, I can use his pin.”
On April 2, during another conversation, Malik - ‘payyabills’ - sent Sandlan - ‘stellarboat’ - a message reading: “Bro need u go spot take pic of both.”
‘Spot’ is a term the gang regularly used for the stash house where they stored drugs and gungs.
It was at Welkin Mill in Stockport, fronted by a company named Global Trades UK Ltd.
Later in the conversation, Sandlan sent Malik four images.
The first was a handgun, while the second two were Skorpion sub-machine guns. The fourth showed a Skorpion sub-machine gun and a handgun.
Before the last picture in the sequence was sent by Sandlan, Malik responded: “Perfect bro.”
Between the April 9 and
13, Cooney - ‘fernpirate’ and Hogan - ‘dullhyena’ talked about Cooney shifting a ‘metal thing,’ with Hogan asking for a picture: “And calibre as well mate”.
Cooney said he would get details of ‘that Italian thing,’ adding: “Spoken to my babysitter to get it out and cleaned up etc”.
Two days later, ‘fernpirate’ sent pictures to ‘dullhyena’ of a Beretta Gardone VT Cal 7.65 handgun.
Between April 17 and 20, there were further conversations involving Malik, Cooney, Hogan and Sandlan.
The conversations revolved around Cooney ‘fernpirate’ - selling a firearm to Hogan - ‘dullhyena’while doing so, asking Malik - ‘payyabills’ - for further information about the weapon.
They chatted about a Skorpion gun with 50 ‘sweets’ being sold for 12,500 and ‘hand ones too’; ‘Semi auto - let’s x3 go at a time’; and ‘8,500 with 30 sweets.’
In the early hours of April 23, following Sandlan’s
arrest, Gonzalez ‘terryf ***** gtibbs’ - made numerous desperate attempts to get hold of Malik. During these attempts, he sent a message reading ‘Ted been arrested for firearms,’ ‘Ted’ being a nickname for Sandlan.
He then said: “They taken him to the station” and “Switching this off bro. I’ll get on you later they might come here”..
Gonzalez then got in touch with an unnamed individual who dealt with the groups’ devices, and requested him to clear ‘stellarboats’ Encrophone of its content, asking: “Feds can’t get in them can they.”
The next day, Waters ‘obscuretwig’ - and others desperately got in touch with Gonzales reading: “Hello bro... Bad news... any word...just read M.E.N. NCA wow.” News had broken of Sandlan’s arrest. The organisation was panicking.
But business continued, with Malik sending Gonzalez a message reading ‘OK we have 5small 3big,’ believed to have meant five