Six men jailed after running one of UK's largest ever drug operations

A gang which made millions selling guns and drugs in what prosecutors say was one of the largest criminal operations ever seen in the UK have been jailed.

Six men in the Manchester-based crime group, which supplied more than £70m in cocaine and sold Skorpion machine pistols to associates, were sentenced on Friday.

Police uncovered their operation by infiltrating encrypted phone messages.

The National Crime Agency said the volume of weapons sold was "chilling".

Each of the six men, all from the Greater Manchester area, were jailed at Minshull Street Crown Court after their operation was dismantled in 2020 a joint-investigation by the agency and Greater Manchester Police.

They recovered guns, ammunition, drugs and over £600,000 in cash after the Encrochat phones used by the criminals were accessed by law enforcement agencies.

Police said the gang sold drugs wholesale across the UK, and a ledger uncovered in the investigation showed between January and May 2020, 739 kilos of high-quality cocaine was kept to supply "a large customer base".

The cocaine shown in the accounts was valued by drug experts at a minimum of £25m, with an estimated street value of over £70m.

The drugs were distrusted from a warehouse in Ancoats in Manchester, police said.

Evidence showed the gang had bought 52 Skorpion sub machine guns, of the type used in the killings of Elle Edwards on Merseyside, for £147,000 and sold at least 48 on to other criminals for between £5,000 and £8,500 each.

Det Supt Joe Harrop of Greater Manchester Police said the men "did not care how lethal their commodities were or the consequences for the communities and innocent people who would be irrevocably affected by this".

Mohammed Omar Malik, 38, of Greater Manchester, was described as playing a "lead role" in the gang by the Crown Prosecution Service, and was sentenced to 36 years in prison.

He was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to possess firearms or ammunition with intent to endanger life, conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply MDMA and conspiracy to supply amphetamine after a six-week trial.

Four other men were arrested for a range of offences including conspiracy to possess firearms or ammunition with intent to endanger life, and conspiracy to supply cocaine, MDMA, and amphetamine.

Daniel Gibbons, 39, of Stockport was jailed for 26 years for his role in the operation, while Daniel Waters, 42, also from the town, was sentenced to 24 years and six months in prison.

Andrew Cooney, 39, of Alderley Edge was imprisoned for 25 years, Sean Hogan of Denton was jailed for 24 years, while 32-year-old Conor Sandlan pleaded guilty before the start of the trial, and was sentenced to 30 years and five months in jail.

Det Supt Harrop said they were dangerous men who "only cared about making vast amounts of money".

"They thought they were untouchable but working with colleagues from the NCA and the CPS North-West Complex Case Unit, we were able to systematically dismantle the group and show them this wasn't the case," he added.

Another man, 32-year-old Adrian Gonzalez, will be sentenced in January after he pleaded to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to supply cocaine, MDMA and amphetamine.

NCA operations manager Adrian Barnard said it was "chilling" to see the volume of lethal weapons this criminal group moved.

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