EncroChat drug trafficker used dark web shops called 'Vanilla Surf', 'Staxx' and 'GovUK' to peddle cocaine all over Europe

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A drugs boss set up 'shops' on the dark web named Vanilla Surf, Staxx and GovUK to peddle vast quantities of cocaine across England the rest of Europe.

Andrew Moores, 37, who lived in a luxury Manchester city centre apartment, played a leading role in a gang which trafficked drugs worth millions including cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine, amphetamine and cannabis via the internet using encrypted EncroChat mobile phones.

The Tameside and Stockport based outfit, which included Moores' book-keeper Paul Gregory, 39, and distributor Austin 'Ozzy' Beckett, 31, 'operated with virtual anonymity', a court heard.

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They all used expensive EncroChat mobile phones, dubbed 'WhatsApp for criminals', as part of a determined effort to avoid detection, and traded in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

But the law enforcement hack of the EncroChat server in France, as well as the work of undercover police officers, brought down the gang.

Today (Thursday) Moores, a dad with two young children, bleated it was 'unfair' as he was locked up for 16 years and six months while Gregory was handed a sentence of 14 years and four months. Beckett was handed a sentence of eleven years and three months.

Another gang member said to be higher up the chain than Moores - named in court as Casey Miller - is wanted by police, and thought to be out of the country.

A police drugs expert said the 20 kilos of cocaine said to have been dealt by the gang could have been worth up to £2m on the streets.

Ketamine estimated to be worth £2m and amphetamine valued at about £300,000 were also said to be linked to the gang.

Police had previously tried to arrest Moores at his luxury tenth floor