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The 39-year-old owner of a transport company that organized the movement of drugs and cash between Europe, Ireland and the United Kingdom has been jailed for 14 years and eight months in Liverpool today.
Thomas Maher, who lived in Wiltshire Close in Warrington but is originally from Co Offaly, was involved in smuggling € 1.5 million worth of cocaine to Ireland and moving nearly € 1 million out of the country.
He was captured as part of a joint operation by the Garda and the National Crime Agency during which officers accessed his encrypted phone messages.
Deputy Commissioner John O’Driscoll, head of the Garda’s serious and organized crime unit, said the conviction was another successful example of the productive working relationship and combined investigative powers of the Gardaí and the NCA.
Born and raised in Clara in Co Offaly, Maher bragged about being involved in organized crime for over 20 years.
He paid himself less than minimum wage for tax purposes, but led a luxurious lifestyle and spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on cars, vacations and jewelry.
Encrochat messages revealed in April 2020 that Maher orchestrated the collection and delivery of at least 21 kg of cocaine from locations in the Netherlands.
The associates informed Maher when the drugs were collected, transported and reached their final destination in Ireland.
In a message exchange, Maher discussed the best ports to use with an accomplice.
“I’ve been in this game for the last 20 years, buddy,” he said. “I’m not an overnight sleeper so I know the way to play.”
On another exchange, he joked about how he was in a great position to take advantage once the coronavirus lockdown restrictions were eased, saying, “Once we remove this travel ban … we’ll laugh buddy. I’m telling you that’s why. I’m not. Stressful yet. “
Maher was initially arrested as part of the investigation into the death of 39 Vietnamese immigrants in a truck in Purfleet, Essex, in October 2019.
The tractor unit involved was at one time owned by Maher and was still registered to his wife even after it was sold.
Maher was released without further action by the Essex police, but the NCA investigation revealed that despite the fact that he and his wife were on less than minimum wage for tax purposes, they led a luxurious lifestyle.
The couple owned cars worth more than £ 200,000, jewelry and watches worth hundreds of thousands, and had spent around £ 90,000 on vacations for three years.
An NCA spokesperson said agents seized several vehicles, including a high-end Range Rover, a Land Rover Discovery and an imported Corvette worth more than 80,000 euros after their arrest.
He spent thousands of dollars on vacations in Dubai, Mexico and New York, and while in Dubai he bought works of art that included a map of the world made of bullets, the spokesman said.
Over a seven-month period, NCA officials observed how Maher was seen meeting with criminal associates in hotels and public spaces in the north-west of England to organize cocaine trafficking from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Maher also helped facilitate the movement of large sums of cash.
He arranged the transport of € 305,000 from Ireland to the Netherlands on behalf of one of his associates, from whom he charged a commission for his participation.
In May, a gardaí in Drogheda confiscated another € 600,000 in transit and arrested three people. Maher had organized the movement of this cash.
The judge said Maher, owner of Thomas Maher Transport Ltd, brought “experience” by owning a transportation business within the operation.
In sentencing, Judge David Aubrey QC said: “You were an extremely important cog in the wheel of a sophisticated Class A controlled drug distribution network that had an international element.
“You were a trusted organizer, you participated in the exchange of goods, the way the parties could identify with each other when and how the drugs were going to be transported.
“Drugs cause despair and misery, they are a cancer among us, but for people like you it doesn’t matter as long as financial gain is made.”
Deputy Commissioner O’Driscoll said today: “The investigative capacity of the Garda Síochána and the UK National Crime Agency, working collaboratively, has become productive again, a consequence of which is safer communities in the UK and Ireland, protected from those involved in serious and organized crime.
“Those who exploit international borders in an attempt to avoid prosecution should have no doubt that the UK and Irish law enforcement authorities are determined to seize every opportunity to achieve a successful outcome in investigations in which they have an interest. common”.
NCA Branch Commander Martin Clarke said: “Maher moved in the highest criminal circles, acting as a logistics man for some of the most notorious organized crime groups in the UK, Ireland and Europe who trusted on him with his drugs and money.
“We believe that the crimes for which he has been convicted represent only the tip of the iceberg in terms of his overall criminality.
“In EncroChat messages he boasted of being involved in organized crime for more than 20 years, during which time it is very likely that he has sent tons of drugs and tens of millions of pounds across Europe.
“After a thorough investigation, we have been able to bring him to justice. And that investigation has not stopped.
“We will use every tool available to hit him where it hurts in his pocket and make sure he can’t continue his luxury lifestyle when he’s released.”
Additional reporting PA
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