Three men jailed for drugs and firearms offences

Three men from Manchester and Liverpool have been jailed at Manchester Crown Court for over 36 years after their drugs and firearms deals were uncovered by NWROCU detectives when the encrypted communications platform ‘EncroChat’ was taken down by international law enforcement in 2020.

Asim Tufail, 52, of Kenmore Road, Northenden was found guilty of blackmail, conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs, conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and money laundering. He was jailed for 23 years.

Danny Parmar, 42, of Ashbourne Avenue, Bolton was jailed for 9 years after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs and conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons.

Peter Lawler, 53, of Eton Court, Liverpool pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and participation in activities of an organised crime group. He was jailed for 4 Years and 4 months

Junnaid Tufail, 23, of Kenmore Road, Northenden has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and three counts of conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and will be sentenced at a later date.

The crime group’s international drug and firearms empire came crashing down back in 2020 as part of Operation Venetic - an international operation targeting criminals who used a mobile encryption service to try to evade detection.

After looking through messages exchanged between Encro handles between March and June 2020, detectives were able to prove that Asim Tufail was the owner of "assassinnew," Junnaid Tufail was the owner of "babyassassin," and Danny Parmar was the owner of "viciousswan."

In one message, Asim Tufail said he hoped to move between two and four million pounds a fortnight.

In another, Junnaid Tufail shared a picture of a home gym which he spent £10,000 on.

The pair also arranged to supply four 9mm handguns and a Magnum 44 revolver and some of the messages exchanged between the OCG involved threats of serious violence to recover drug debts which was believed to be in excess of £3 million pounds.

But their criminal empire came crashing down when they were arrested at Manchester airport on 18 January 2021, waiting to board a flight to Dubai. When arrested, Asim Tufail was wearing a Rolex watch worth more than £70,000.

A few days later, Palmer was charged after being arrested at his home address.

A few months later, detectives discovered that Lawler was also part of the conspiracy. He was arrested at his home address and officers seized approximately half a kilogramme of heroin.

Detective Chief Inspector Zoe Russo from the NWROCU’s Investigation Team said:

“This crime group mistakenly thought that they could get away with conducting their criminal business by using the encrypted mobile platform EncroChat – but they were sadly mistaken.

“My officers worked meticulously to identify who the Encro handles belonged to, to ensure the organised crime group were brought to justice.

“We uncovered within the Encrochat data images of firearms he was conspiring to supply which could have caused serious harm and devastation in our community.

“Thankfully, the crime group have now been sentenced for their crimes and will spend a significant period of time in custody.

"I hope this outcome demonstrates that the NWROCU is unrelenting in its pursuit of offenders and that we work tirelessly to proactively investigate serious organised crime, including the use of guns and the supply and distribution of drugs in our region."