Three jailed for encro drug dealing

A drugs gang responsible for sourcing and supplying multi-kilos of Class A and B drugs across the UK have been jailed today (Monday 20 May) for 40 years as part of Operation Venetic.

Dylan Adams, 34, of Cadogan Street, Liverpool used the handles “WIRELESSDOVE’ AND ‘BUSYMINT’. He conspired to supply Class A drugs across the country and up to Scotland. He was jailed for 12 years.

Karlos Escoffery, 50, of The Scholes, St Helens used the handle ‘MUCHYMOUTH’. He conspired to supply more than 43kg of Class A drugs and money laundering and was jailed for 13 years and four months.

David Bradley, 27, of Marathon Close, Liverpool used the handle ‘FROSTYFINGER’. He conspired to supply more than 49kg of Class A drugs and more than 54kg of Class B drugs and was jailed for 14 years and eight months.

The trio acted as wholesalers, taking it in turn to supply their customers, who would in turn supply to their users. It’s estimated collectively they sold more than 119kg of Class A and 154kg of B drugs during the conspiracy.

But their drugs empire came crashing down when they were arrested at Manchester airport on 15 September 2023 as they were about to board a flight to Ibiza.

Officers carried out search warrants at their home addresses later that day and recovered £2,000 cash from Escoffrey’s address and more than £51,000 and a ‘tick list’ of his customers from Bradley’s home address.

Detective Inspector Dave Worthington from the NWROCU’s Operational Team said:

“This sentencing is the latest in a long line of people put behind bars as a result of Operation Venetic.

“This group mistakenly thought that by using Encrochat, they could evade police, but our successes as part of Op Venetic show how wrong they were.

“We are relentless in our approach to tackling drug supply in the North West and work with our local forces and wider partners to pursue these criminals and to bring down serious and organised criminal groups.”