united kingdom - Blog - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-28T22:03:41Z
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Meet the men who supplied fraudulent passports to Britain's top mob bosses
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/increased-prison-terms-for-british-crime-bosses-who-supplied-frau
2023-08-31T08:38:45.000Z
2023-08-31T08:38:45.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/12214371069?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=380"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Two members of an organized crime group who supplied fraudulently-obtained genuine passports (FOGs) to the criminal underworld have had their sentences increased. The passports, which were issued authentically but applied for using false information, were sold to criminal clients for up to £20,000 by Christopher Zietek, 67, Anthony Beard, 61, and Alan Thompson, 73.</p>
<p>Among their customers were Glasgow murderers Jordan Owens and Christopher Hughes, Liverpool drug trafficker Michael Moogan, and Manchester fugitive David Walley.</p>
<p>The three were originally sentenced in May 2023 at Reading Crown Court, but at a hearing on August 25, the Court of Appeal ruled that Zietek and Beard’s previous sentences were unduly lenient and the judge increased them to a total of 22 years.</p>
<p>Zietek’s prison term was raised from eight years to 12 years and Beard’s from six years to 10 years and two months. Thompson’s three-year sentence was not increased.</p>
<p>Jacqueline Beer, NCA Regional Head of Investigations, said: “These men ran a lucrative illegal enterprise that enabled some of the UK’s most heinous criminals to evade justice in the UK and cross international borders undetected. The increase in their prison sentences adequately reflects the severity of their offending and the harm it did in the UK and beyond.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12214371074,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="12214371074?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="380" /></a><strong><em>Photo: Anthony Beard (left) & Christopher Zietek (right)</em></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Investigation</strong></span></p>
<p>The NCA’s investigation began in 2017 – it ran in partnership with the Dutch National Police and HM Passport Office, and has been one of the most significant undertaken by the Agency in recent times.</p>
<p>Beard and Zietek, both from Sydenham, would exploit vulnerable people – often with drink or drug problems – who were around the same age as their clients and with similar facial features.</p>
<p>They were paid for providing their expired passports, and their details were used to apply for new ones but with photographs of the criminals. The crime group also paid others to countersign passport applications.</p>
<p>Beard was an expert in FOGs, and NCA officers believe he had been procuring them for 20 years.</p>
<p>He was involved in every aspect of organizing and applying for the passports, including collecting application forms and planning the details to be provided by the applicant and the counter-signatory.</p>
<p>His fingerprints were found on many of the forms, and contact numbers he included were for numerous ‘burner’ phones he operated.</p>
<p>Handwriting experts established he completed most of the application forms, and a voice recognition specialist determined Beard called HM Passport Office to chase up applications pretending to be the people named on the forms.</p>
<p>Beard, who pleaded guilty to fraud offences, also admitted supplying over 70 FOGs used by other criminals, including Jamie Acourt, Christy Kinahan, and firearms trafficker Richard Burdett.</p>
<p>Zietek, who was formerly known as Christopher McCormack and was believed to be an enforcer for the Adams crime family in London, split his time between Sydenham, Ireland and Spain.</p>
<p>He acted as the FOG broker and exploited his criminal connections to obtain clients for the crime group.</p>
<p>The NCA captured audio recordings in Zietek’s house of incriminating conversations with Beard and others about the application processes and their customers.</p>
<p>Officers also observed meetings with identity donors or counter-signatories, analyzed reams of mobile phone and cell site data, and deployed undercover officers to deliver some of the passports.</p>
<p>Zietek and Beard were arrested during coordinated NCA raids in October 2021.</p>
<p>Between them charges were brought for offences of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to make a false instrument with intent (passports and ID documents), and money laundering.</p>
<p>Beard changed his plea to guilty on 3 January 2023, the first day of a nine-week trial, and Zietek was found guilty on 17 March.</p>
<p>Thompson, from Sutton, Surrey, was also found guilty on 17 March. He worked for Zietek doing everything from chauffeuring him to criminal meetings to performing necessary tasks for the brokering of FOG passports, including meeting Beard when Zietek was abroad. A FOG passport and several photographs of FOG customers were located at his home.</p>
<ul>
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Two British drug bosses sentenced after their text messages were decrypted, revealed drug and gun deals
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/two-british-drug-bosses-sentenced-after-their-text-messages-were
2023-04-30T07:53:21.000Z
2023-04-30T07:53:21.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/11038012070?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Two British crime bosses who conspired to buy and supply drugs and guns on the encrypted communications platform EncroChat have been imprisoned. Raj Singh, 45, and Waqas Iqbal, 41, plotted multi-kilo consignments of cocaine and heroin between March and May 2020. Singh was sentenced in February, Iqbal on Friday.</p>
<p>National Crime Agency officers proved Singh and Iqbal ran an organized crime group and regularly worked together to buy and sell drugs and firearms. They also planned to launder money and send ketamine to Canada.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-gangsters-try-and-fail-to-evade-government-surveillance" target="_blank"><strong>How gangsters try (and fail) to evade government surveillance</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>“Though Iqbal and Singh operated within the London area they had criminal connections in multiple countries within mainland Europe and further afield,” Dean Wallbank, NCA operations manager, said. “Like other high end dealers, Iqbal and Singh are toxic and responsible for causing very serious levels of harm to society. They didn’t care what bloodshed the guns and drugs led to, just as long as they made money.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Coke, heroin, and guns</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11038012475,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="232" alt="11038012475?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a>They were not known by their real names <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-gangsters-try-and-fail-to-evade-government-surveillance" target="_blank">EncroChat</a> but by ‘handles’. Singh was called Salmonagent and Iqbal (left) was Ghostshooter. The National Crime Agency led Operation Venetic, which was the British side of the international takedown of EncroChat in 2020. The platform was used by countless criminals – from Mafiosi to drug bosses – around the globe.</p>
<p>In one EncroChat exchange, Iqbal told a criminal contact that his OCG had its name on 150 kilos of cocaine and 100 kilos of heroin.</p>
<p>The crucial phone evidence also showed the pair conspiring on firearms details. At the end of March 2020 Iqbal supplied a contact with ammunition for a 7.65 Browning at a meeting on Acacia Road, in London E17.</p>
<p>A week later Singh and Iqbal discussed a firearm that Iqbal had hidden in a wall.</p>
<p>Over the next few days between 8 and 10 April the men discussed buying another firearm from a contact on EncroChat for £8,000.</p>
<p>On April 24, Iqbal told a criminal contact that he had bought a Walther Creed semi-automatic handgun with 50 bullets for £6,000.</p>
<p>A conversation four weeks later between Iqbal and Singh revealed the bullets weren’t delivered on that deal, but they had also agreed to buy a Skorpion machine pistol for £6,000.</p>
<p>The messages between Singh and Iqbal revealed how significant their offending was. The men had not only been involved in many multiple kilo deals to buy and supply drugs, the decrypted messages revealed that in April 2020 Iqbal was in the process of repaying £385,000 for drugs he had taken on credit.</p>
<p>Decrypted messages between April and May 2020 also showed the OCG in conversations about laundering 151,500 euros from the UK to the Netherlands. Singh also plotted to send ketamine to Canada.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Pub fight with a female cop</strong></span></p>
<p>Iqbal admitted conspiracy to import 10 kilos of cocaine, conspiracy to transfer a prohibited weapon and money laundering.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11038012098,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="295" alt="11038012098?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a>Singh (right) admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply ketamine and money laundering. He also admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm upon police on a separate matter.</p>
<p>In February this year Singh – also known as Rajinder Singh Bassi – was sentenced to eight years and 10 months at Guildford Crown Court.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/they-whacked-the-payphone-the-american-mafia-bids-it-farewell-wit" target="_blank"><strong>They whacked the payphone! The American Mafia bids it farewell with tears in its eyes</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The sentence also included 16 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm upon a female police officer. Singh was involved in a pub fight in which he kicked the police officer’s leg as she tried to restrain him. The officer required significant rehabilitation upon her knee and cannot return to front line policing due to the injuries.</p>
<p>On Friday, at the same court, Iqbal was sentenced to 12 years in prison.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p></div>
“I normally get arrested for drugs” - Pilot joked after arrest over botched people smuggling attempt
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/i-normally-get-arrested-for-drugs-pilot-joked-after-arrest-over-b
2023-04-29T15:28:09.000Z
2023-04-29T15:28:09.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/11037792459?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=380"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>A British pilot and career criminal was imprisoned on Friday alongside two other men in connection with a plot to fly four Albanian illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom. As the pilot was arrested he joked: “I normally get arrested for drugs, so it’s a bit strange.”</p>
<p>As part of a National Crime Agency investigation, 53-year-old Richard Styles was arrested at Deenethorpe Airfield near Corby, Northamptonshire, in March 2022. He had just flown his twin-engine plane to the airfield from Belgium, carrying with him three men and a woman who were all attempting to evade immigration checks.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11037792099,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="11037792099?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><strong><em>Photo (left to right): Richard Styles, Silvano Turchet and Vijayakumar Sivakumar</em></strong></p>
<p>NCA investigators found that Styles had worked with former pilot and fellow aviation buff Silvano Turchet, aged 68, to rent the six-seater Piper Seneca for £1,500 from an airfield in Lincolnshire.</p>
<p>Styles flew it down to Deenethorpe, where Turchet had paid for it to be stored in a hangar before flying to Belgium on March 23.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/buccaneer-the-story-of-drug-smuggling-pilot-jack-reed" target="_blank"><strong>Buccaneer: The Story of Drug Smuggling Pilot Jack Reed</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Investigators believe the men were in contact with an Albanian known as ‘Tim K’ who arranged for Styles’ illegal passengers to meet him in Belgium. When the plane returned to the UK the next day, an NCA surveillance team was waiting.</p>
<p>As Styles was arrested he joked: “I normally get arrested for drugs, so it’s a bit strange.”</p>
<p>Shortly after Styles’ arrest the Albanian group were detained by Northants Police officers, who were working with the NCA, in a Mercedes taxi driven by Vijayakumar Sivakumar. The migrants were handed to the immigration authorities.</p>
<p>Sivakumar, 43, who was previously convicted for trying to smuggle someone into the UK in the boot of his car, was also arrested. Phone records showed he had been in contact with Tim K in the run up to the flight.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Smuggling ecstasy and cannabis</strong></span></p>
<p>Styles had previous convictions for using a plane to smuggle ecstasy tablets out of Belgium in 2003, and drop cannabis into Jersey the same year while he was on the run from the Belgian authorities. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2006, where he is believed to have met Turchet.</p>
<p>The pair were arrested by the Dutch authorities in 2017 in connection with another people smuggling enterprise. Styles would later be convicted in his absence – he was already in custody in the UK by the time the case came to trial.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/american-pilot-for-juarez-drug-cartel-gets-14-years-in-prison" target="_blank"><strong>American pilot for Juarez drug cartel gets 14 years in prison</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Turchet was arrested at his home in Nottingham in July 2022 after NCA investigators identified him as the organizer. He initially denied knowledge of the plot, even though phone data put him near Deenethorpe airfield on 24 March and showed he’d called Styles nine times.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:14pt;">Guilt and punishment</span> </strong></p>
<p>All three men were charged with facilitating a breach of immigration law, a charge Styles admitted at a hearing on August 8, 2022.</p>
<p>Turchet pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial, while Sivakumar was found guilty by a jury after a five day trial at Leicester Crown Court in February 2023.</p>
<p>On April 28, a judge at the same court sentenced Styles to seven years in prison, Turchet to seven-and-a-half years, and Sivakumar to four-and-a-half years.</p>
<p>“Styles was a career criminal who previously used his piloting skills to move consignments of drugs around Europe,” NCA Regional Head of Investigations Jacque Beer said. “On this occasion he was offering a luxury end to end service, bringing people into the UK using a private plane. His comments to my officers show that he considered getting arrested nothing more than an occupational hazard.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Gold shipment forfeited after British authorities link it to South American drug cartels
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gold-shipment-forfeited-after-british-authorities-link-it-to-sout
2023-03-24T19:02:35.000Z
2023-03-24T19:02:35.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/11002828676?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has obtained a civil recovery order for gold worth an estimated £4 million that was being laundered by South American drug cartels, the NCA announced Tuesday. Financial investigators took up the case after the shipment of gold weighing 104 kilos was seized at Heathrow in June 2019.</p>
<p>The gold was in the cargo section of a plane which had arrived from the Cayman Islands. It was being transported from the Caymans to Switzerland via Heathrow, having earlier been shipped to the Caymans on a private jet which had arrived from Venezuela.</p>
<p>NCA officers worked closely with authorities in the Cayman Islands to prove a false paperwork trail had been created to hide the true origin of the gold as Venezuela, and that those involved in the organization and physical movement of the gold had links to organized crime.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/robbers-set-french-highway-ablaze-as-they-steal-2-5-million-in-go" target="_blank"><strong>Robbers set French highway ablaze as they steal €2.5 million in gold</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Following settlement discussions and an application to the High Court, the NCA obtained a civil recovery order over 80 per cent of the gold under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The remaining 20 per cent will be returned to companies with a financial interest in the gold.</p>
<p>NCA Branch Commander Andy Noyes said: “Criminals are attracted to gold as a way of moving drugs money due to the high value contained in relatively small amounts. Our investigation showed this shipment was linked to drug cartels operating out of South America, but we were able to stop it reaching its final destination thanks to established links with overseas partners. This intervention has disrupted the criminal network, stopping them from reinvesting in further criminality that causes harm to our communities.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Merseyside drug gang ran industrial scale amphetamine factory in Scotland
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/merseyside-drug-gang-ran-industrial-scale-amphetamine-factory-in
2022-12-20T09:41:27.000Z
2022-12-20T09:41:27.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10914408464?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Four members of an organized crime group that ran an industrial scale amphetamine lab in Scotland, and trafficked heroin and cocaine, have been convicted after a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.</p>
<p>The organized crime group was based in Merseyside and run by 48-year-old kingpin Terrence Earle. He used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to organize his operation and enlisted the help of subordinates Stanley Feerick, 68, and Stephen King, 48.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Scottish drug lab</strong></span></p>
<p>In December 2020, Lancashire Police seized more than 560 kilos of alpha-phenylacetoacetamide - a chemical used in the production of amphetamine - from the group. This would have been capable of producing around £1.1m worth of amphetamine at the lab in Scotland.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10914408080,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="10914408080?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><em><strong>Photo: Terrence Earle, Stanley Feerick, Lee Baxter and Stephen King</strong></em></p>
<p>It was found in a lorry which had been loaded from a warehouse at a caravan park in Weeton, Lancashire, on the orders of Feerick.</p>
<p>In March 2020, as the nation entered its first Covid 19 lockdown, the OCG arranged for boxes of alpha-phenylacetoacetamide which had been stored at the same warehouse to be loaded and driven to a garage in Motherwell.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-pablo-escobar-of-great-britain-s-cocaine-trade" target="_blank"><strong>The Pablo Escobar of Great Britain’s cocaine trade</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>EncroChat messages showed that Earle also oversaw the trafficking of heroin and cocaine from Scotland to Merseyside, and in the opposite direction, with the assistance of 48-year-old Lee Baxter, of Huyton, Liverpool.</p>
<p>In November 2020, Feerick, of Dovecot, Liverpool, met King, of Dumbarton in Lanark, south east of Glasgow, who supported the production of amphetamines.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Busted</strong></span></p>
<p>Shortly afterwards Feerick was arrested as he drove a lorry southbound on the M6 motorway and officers discovered a hold all, which was found to contain 2.9 kilos of heroin worth £300,000 and £20,000 in cash.</p>
<p>A search of Feerick’s home unearthed £9,370 in cash.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/foxtrot-one-one-is-down-the-braybrook-street-massacre" target="_blank"><strong>Foxtrot One One is Down: The Braybrook Street Massacre</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Further EncroChat messages showed that the gang was also involved in the trafficking of cocaine from Scotland to England.</p>
<p>NCA officers arrested Earle, Feerick Baxter and King in March last year.</p>
<p>Earle and Baxter pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court on October 3 this year, with Feerick changing his plea to guilty on December 5 before he was due to stand trial. King was convicted by a jury on December 15 following an eight-day trial.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/top-4-stone-cold-gangsters-who-look-like-wimps" target="_blank"><strong>Looks can be deceiving: Look at Glasgow crime boss Paul Ferris</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The men are due to be sentenced on January 18, 2023.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Takedown of EncroChat</strong></span></p>
<p>The NCA’s investigation formed part of Operation Venetic, the UK NCA-led law enforcement response to the takedown of the EncroChat service in July 2020.</p>
<p>NCA Branch Commander Richie Davies said: “Terence Earle’s criminal organization posed a serious threat to communities across Scotland and Merseyside. They were determined to make money from producing or supplying illegal drugs, despite knowing the risk those drugs posed to users, and to many others affected by the violence and exploitation fueled by the trade. Our investigation has dismantled their crime group, and demonstrates the NCA’s constant work to protect the public from the highest risk criminals impacting on the UK.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Dear Lord – Crime group used Christian ministry as front for £2 million cannabis importation from Jamaica
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/dear-lord-crime-group-used-christian-ministry-as-front-for-2-mill
2022-12-02T11:14:17.000Z
2022-12-02T11:14:17.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10898000255?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>In the name of God, let’s get high. Of course, things aren’t that simple. Though God’s laws apply, the laws of justice tend to overrule those set by God. Especially when you are just using religion as a way to bypass the justice system, like a criminal group which used a religious charity as a front for importing 400 kilos of cannabis into the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>The National Crime Agency investigated 50-year-old Dalton Anderson, 45-year-old Alvin Russell, 64-year-old Sinclair Tucker after Birmingham based organization Vision Christian Ministries (VCM) was used to smuggle the drugs – worth up to £2 million when sold in the United Kingdom.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/armed-police-escort-for-anti-mafia-priest-shows-life-in-italy-r" target="_blank"><strong>Armed police escort for anti-Mafia priest shows life in Italy remains under siege by organized crime</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The cannabis was trafficked from Jamaica to Britain, via Birmingham Airport, and had been packed into sealed tins of Calaloo, a Jamaican green vegetable, and Akee fruit.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10898000264,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="10898000264?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a><strong><em>Custody photos of Sinclair Ory Tucker, Dalton Anderson and Alvin Russell</em></strong></p>
<p>It was shipped in three separate consignments addressed to VCM between March and May 2017 and seized by Border Force.</p>
<p>Sinclair Ory Tucker, Dalton Anderson and Alvin Russell were arrested at the airport on May 23 of that year, while inspecting the third consignment which had just arrived.</p>
<p>NCA investigators established that they organized the imports and collected the drugs from the airport. Anderson and Russell also spent some time in Jamaica when the importations were made, handling money and providing shipping documentation to VCM via Tucker.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Charged and convicted</strong></span></p>
<p>All three were charged with conspiracy to import cannabis, with Anderson also charged with possession with intent to supply after five kilos of cannabis was found at his home following his arrest.</p>
<p>Anderson was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on November 29, with the other two found guilty on November 30, following a five week trial. They are due to be sentenced at the same court on January 27 next year.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>WATCH & READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/square-grouper-godfathers-of" target="_blank"><strong>Square Grouper: Godfathers of Ganja</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>“Anderson, Tucker and Russell cynically used a Christian ministry as a smokescreen to import huge quantities of cannabis into the UK,” NCA Operations Manager Rick Mackenzie said. “They wrongly believed that this would put them beyond the reach of the National Crime Agency and our law enforcement partners.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> or <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime">Black organized crime</a> section on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Gang who ran firearms conversion workshop sentenced to prison
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gang-who-ran-firearms-conversion-workshop-sentenced-to-prison
2022-10-16T07:08:01.000Z
2022-10-16T07:08:01.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10842999696?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Members of a British organized crime group who bought scores of blank firing handguns to convert into live weapons have been jailed on Tuesday for a total of almost 14 years. National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators established that 31-year-old Perhys Neale bought around 45 legal blank firing Turkish Retay 84FS pistols from gun stores in the Midlands area, including shops in Birmingham and Tamworth.</p>
<p>With original lethal purpose guns being illegal and relatively difficult to obtain, criminals wanting firearms often seek converted blank firing weapons. Each of the weapons bought by Neale cost around £100, but would have been worth at least £2,500 on the criminal market once converted to fire live ammunition.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/the-real-peaky-blinders-attacking-coppers-gambling-on-horses-figh"><strong>The Real Peaky Blinders: Attacking coppers, gambling on horses, fighting with fists and guns</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Neale was driven by accomplice Shaun Williams, 33, on multiple occasions to buy the weapons using cash, which were then passed to 31-year-old Christopher Watson, who himself bought one pistol.</p>
<p>The barrels were drilled into to enable them to fire live rounds, using a drill and fittings, before the weapons were coated in heat resistant black paint to make the blue side of the pistols appear more authentic.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Text message</strong></span></p>
<p>In one text message to his girlfriend, Neale said that he was getting four pistols converted, which would potentially make him around £9,000.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/manchester-drug-gang-planned-to-torture-and-rob-82-year-old-busin" target="_blank"><strong>Manchester drug gang planned to torture and rob 82-year-old businessman at his family home</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Watson and Williams were arrested on November 5 last year, after armed West Midlands Police officers – acting at the request of the NCA - descended on a white transit van travelling near ‘Spaghetti Junction’ in Birmingham. Watson was driving the vehicle at the time.</p>
<p>Two firearms which had been broken down into their constituent parts were found in the passenger foot well, along with a pack of 9mm ammunition.</p>
<p>NCA officers searched the three men’s homes in Birmingham. They found a Clarke Metal Worker drill and fittings in Watson’s house along with debris from the base of the drill, and a small cannabis farm at Neale’s flat.</p>
<p>The trio pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on June 8, and were sentenced at the same court on October 11. Watson was jailed five years and three months, Williams to four-and-a-half years and Neale to four years.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Illegal firearms feed serious violence”</strong></span></p>
<p>NCA Branch Commander Mick Pope said: “Illegal firearms feed serious violence, intimidation and coercion in our communities. It is chilling to think that the dozens of blank firing weapons this gang bought could have been destined for organized criminals as viable handguns. Seizing such weapons, with the help of our partners at West Midlands Police, protects the public from this serious threat. I’ve no doubt more handguns would have been produced had we not intervened.”</p>
<p>It is illegal to modify or adapt top or side venting blank-firing firearms into viable weapons. The NCA works closely with industry, trade groups and retailers to prevent their availability and use by UK criminals, as well as with multiple partners overseas to prevent them from entering the UK supply chain, either through lawful or unlawful channels.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
“I want you to move 50 kilos a week, don’t talk about 1” – London crime boss gets 25 years for running drug ring from prison
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/i-want-you-to-move-50-kilos-a-week-don-t-talk-about-1-london-crim
2022-04-23T15:30:25.000Z
2022-04-23T15:30:25.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10434433685?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Who said prison is the end of the road for a criminal? For most it is either the beginning of a long criminal career or simply a change of venue. Case in point 42-year-old Darryl Tawiah, of Southwark London, who was already serving an 18-year sentence for narcotics and weapons trafficking when he was arrested and charged by National Crime Agency officers last year for organizing drug deals and money laundering from his cell.</p>
<p>Tawiah (photo above) was jailed for 25 years on Wednesday alongside associates who helped him fix deals on the outside and launder the profits. He frequently used phones in prison to contact a drug supplier based in the Netherlands, who himself had previously been convicted for importing cocaine after an NCA investigation.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/irish-kinahan-cartel-sanctioned-by-u-s-treasury-dea-offers-5-mill" target="_blank"><strong>Irish Kinahan Cartel sanctioned by U.S. Treasury – DEA offers $5 million bounty for arrest of bosses</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Following his early release from prison, the Dutch drugs trafficker was deported to the Netherlands and became the subject of a separate Dutch investigation. Conversations captured between the two showed Tawiah was sourcing cocaine wholesale and arranging their onward distribution and sale.</p>
<p>Working with people within the UK and the Netherlands, Tawiah’s group is believed to have been behind at least two tons of drugs imported into the UK and sold across London and the South East.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“I need to get more money in”</strong></span></p>
<p>In one conversation the Dutch supplier told Tawiah: “I want you to move 50 [kilos] a week, don’t talk to me about one”, to which Tawiah replied, “No problem Bro…now that it is good, everybody is calling…..I need to get more money in…”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>WATCH: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/video/the-power-of-the-mocro-mafia-cocaine-and-the-netherlands" target="_blank"><strong>The power of the Mocro Mafia - Cocaine and the Netherlands</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Further conversations showed Tawiah talking about buying cocaine at bulk prices and that he had a desire to sell ‘coffee’ when he left prison, which is slang for heroin. He also asked the supplier if he had ever heard of “2C” because “everybody’s asking for it in the West End, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Chelsea…”.</p>
<p>2C was a reference to liquid GHB, which has been used in instances of ‘date rape’.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Outside connections</strong></span></p>
<p>Tawiah controlled a number of people on the outside, one of which was 37-year-old Steven Johnson, of Farlington Place, London. He took delivery of the drugs on Tawiah’s instructions and distributed them across London.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10434435494,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10434435494?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a><em><strong>From left to right: Ali Reza Shokrolahi, Rosemond Agyemang, Dorian Vaciulis, Faisal Guled, Steven Johnson, Darryl Tawiah</strong></em></p>
<p>59-year-old Rosemond Agyemang was a courier handling the cash side of the operation, and helped to launder it through bank accounts. She also made various cash payments to the Dutch supplier’s people in the UK.</p>
<p>She was arrested outside Oval station in London in July 2019 and was found to be carrying thousands in cash at the time. At the time of her arrest she was on her way to meet Dorian Vaciulis, a 34-year-old from Feltham, London, who was working for the Dutch supplier and responsible for collecting both cash and drugs.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-boys-from-bethnal-green-how-the-infamous-kray-twins-ruled-the" target="_blank"><strong>The Boys from Bethnal Green: How the infamous Kray Twins ruled the London underworld</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>He was in regular contact with co-conspirator Ali Reza Shokrolahi. Aged 41, Shokrolahi, also from London, was operating as a lorry driver for the group and was linked to at least 30 kilograms of cocaine seized at the UK border.</p>
<p>Tawiah, Vaciulis, Johnson, Agyemang and other alleged co-conspirators were arrested in March last year and were charged with various offences relating to Class A drugs and money laundering.</p>
<p>As the investigation continued, a further man was identified and arrested for his links to the group. 34-year-old Faisal Guled, a Dutch national living in Camden, London, worked for the Dutch supplier and was operating a county line selling drugs across London and Northampton.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, April 20, Tawiah, Johnson, Vaciulis and Guled were sentenced collectively to 70 years in prison after pleading guilty following a newton hearing. Agyemang was given a one year sentence at the same court last year. Shokrolahi fled while on bail and was not present at the hearing.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
British police seize gold bars from international money laundering network
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/british-police-seize-gold-bars-from-international-money-launderin
2022-02-02T09:56:39.000Z
2022-02-02T09:56:39.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10064746471?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>You can’t beat gold. Make it rain with dollars, euros or pounds all you want, but nothing makes it rain like gold. Better yet, it’s the original blockchain. Melt it down and nobody can trace it. Weigh it and its worth the same amount as before. Old school but still an ideal money laundering tool.</p>
<p>No wonder then that many modern-day criminal groups still use it to launder their dirty money. In Great Britain, the National Crime Agency (NCA) last week obtained a forfeiture order for 15 gold bars worth £650,000 that are linked to an international money laundering network.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The woman from Singapore</strong></span></p>
<p>NCA financial investigators took up the case after a Singaporean national was stopped at Heathrow Airport in March 2020, having arrived on a flight from Singapore. The woman was transiting through the airport to catch a plane to Chennai, India, and Border Force officers found she was carrying the bars in her hand luggage.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>WATCH: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/dressed-as-cops-robbers-steal-40-million-worth-of-gold-at-sao-pau" target="_blank"><strong>Dressed as cops, robbers steal $40 million worth’ of gold at Sao Paulo airport in Brazil</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>She initially told NCA investigators she was taking the bars from a jeweler in Singapore to another jeweler in India. She had no explanation for her strange routing. The gold was seized as suspected proceeds of crime, and the woman was allowed to continue on her journey.</p>
<p>Further enquiries by the NCA revealed invoices she was carrying for the gold were fake, and the Chennai jeweler did not exist. Following a two-day hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates on Wednesday 26 January 2022, the NCA was awarded forfeiture of the bars under the Proceeds of Crime Act.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Active in both Europe and Asia”</strong></span></p>
<p>“Gold is an attractive commodity for criminals to use to move money because relatively small amounts can have a high value,” NCA Branch Commander Andy Noyes said. “Our investigation pointed to these gold bars belonging to a criminal money laundering network active in both Europe and Asia."</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-story-of-organized-crime-is-the-story-of-the-modern-world-jou" target="_blank">“The story of organized crime is the story of the modern world”</a> – Journalists explore global crime in Underworld podcast</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“We think they were attempting to move them through London to try and disguise their routing, and avoid the attentions of Indian law enforcement upon arrival there. NCA investigators worked with Indian partners to disprove the story given to officers by the woman carrying the gold bars, and show that on the balance of probabilities they were proceeds of crime. Working with partners like Border Force we are determined to do all we can to disrupt the flow of illicit money coming through the UK.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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London-based gangsters caught with guns sentenced to prison
https://gangstersinc.org/blog/london-based-gangsters-caught-with-guns-sentenced-to-prison
2021-10-04T08:01:22.000Z
2021-10-04T08:01:22.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/9640531052?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Guns are a serious business. Always, but especially in Europe where laws are much more strict. Of course, when it comes to guns and organized crime authorities around the world tend to work by a zero tolerance policy. Three members of a London-based crime organization found that out on Friday.</p>
<p>39-year-old Artem Kuts and 40-year-old Oliver Mark were arrested as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into the supply of firearms. Following a seven-day trial they were found guilty. On Friday, they were sentenced to 15 years and 8 years in prison respectively.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9640531301,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="9640531301?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Surveillance</strong></span></p>
<p>NCA surveillance teams watched as Kuts left his home carrying a brown paper bag on October 12 last year, and got into a black BMW 5 Series registered to Mark. A third man, 26-year-old Alexander Georgiev (also known as Ernis Piranej), was seen getting in and out of the same car several times carrying the brown paper bag. He pleaded guilty at an earlier date and was jailed for 6 years.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9640531869,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="508" alt="9640531869?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a><em><strong>Photo: From left to right: Kuts, Mark, Georgiev</strong></em></p>
<p>Armed officers descended on the black car and found the bag in the rear passenger footwell. It contained a Russian brand Baikal self-loading pistol and eight rounds of Makarov ammunition. Mark and Kuts were both arrested for possession of a firearm.</p>
<p>Georgiev was arrested for conspiring to supply a firearm minutes later, as he attempted to flee in a blue BMW.</p>
<p>Officers then searched Kuts’ home and found two more Baikals and 14 rounds of ammunition, which had been hidden in the garden. They had been packaged heavily and wedged in the corner between the wall and a garden storage unit.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“It is only right they should serve long jail sentences”</strong></span></p>
<p>“Illegal firearms drive serious violence, intimidation and coercion in our communities,” Jacque Beer, NCA Regional Head of Investigations, said. “Seizing handguns like the ones found [here], with the help of our partners at the Metropolitan Police Service, protects the public from this grave threat. The NCA works tirelessly to stop criminals like Kuts, Mark and Georgiev obtaining firearms and it is only right they should serve long jail sentences for their crimes.”</p>
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