Trucker ran drugs cartel from suburban cul-de-sac
Kingpin busted after cab linked to Essex migrant lorry tragedy
A TRUCKER who ran a major drugs ring from his front room in a suburban cul-de-sac during lockdown has been jailed for nearly 15 years.
Thomas Maher, 40, helped move Class A drugs and cash around the world for top criminal gangs. His trade stretched from the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the cocaine cartels of Colombia.
He co-ordinated the crooked operation at the four-bed detached home he shared with hairdresser wife Joanna, in Warrington, Cheshire, where luxury cars stood on the driveaway. The f ather- of- three bought the house for £255,000 in 2017. Police believe he ran the lucrative business for 20 years but his downfall was sparked after his firm was linked to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants who suffocated in the back of a lorry in Essex last year.
It was the last registered owner of the cab. In another blow, police cracked EncroChat, an encrypted messaging network relied upon by crime lords to communicate in a breakthrough likened to the solving of the war-time Enigma code. It allowed detectives to eavesdrop on Maher and 700 other crime bosses.
Yesterday, Irish-born Maher was jailed for 14 years and eight months. Liverpool Crown Court heard that, between March and May, he helped transport £1.5million of cocaine from Holland to Ireland via the UK and laundered £1million of cash.
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.
‘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.’ After the lorry deaths in Purfleet, Essex, last year Maher was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and his fleet of luxury cars was towed away for examination. In the end, he was not charged over the migrants’ deaths.
However, police had seen enough to be suspicious of how a small-time haulier could afford £90,000 worth of holidays in three years.
He also had a £20,000 Mafia-style artwork collection, which included a map of the world sculpted out of bullets, and a £600,000 collection of Hublot and Rolex watches.
The cracking of EncroChat finally helped to nail him. Maher could be seen bidding for jobs, typically charging £2,000 per kilo of drugs he moved, or requesting one per cent of cash he was hired to transport.
Following his arrest in June, Maher admitted four charges of conspiracy to import Class A drugs and transferring criminal property.
Martin Clarke, of the National Crime Agency, 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.’
‘Important cog in crime wheel’