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A wealthy Irish transport chief who transported cocaine and cash across Europe has been jailed for 14 years and eight months.
Irishman Thomas Maher, 40, was sentenced in Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy to commit a crime abroad at an earlier hearing.
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The court heard that between March and May he participated in conspiracies to transport a total of approximately £ 1.5 million of cocaine from the Netherlands to Ireland, via the United Kingdom, and to launder around £ 1 million in cash between Ireland and the Netherlands.
The father of three, from Warrington, Cheshire, used the encrypted phone network Encrochat, accessed by law enforcement agencies across Europe earlier this year, to plan transportation, the court heard.
In sentencing him, 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 reliable organizer, you participated in the exchange of goods, in how the parties could identify with each other when and how the drugs would be transported.
“Drugs cause despair and misery, they are a cancer among us, but for those like you it doesn’t matter as long as financial gains are made.”
‘EXPERIENCE’ IN TRANSPORTATION
The judge said Maher, owner of Thomas Maher Transport Ltd, brought “experience” by owning a transportation business within the operation.
Catherine Rabaiotti, the accuser, said Maher was arrested at her home on June 13, the same day that Encrochat issued an alert telling users that she had been compromised.
Neither of the two Encrochat devices linked to him were recovered, the court heard.
Ms Rabaiotti said the messages showed him acting as an intermediary and “logistics manager”.
She said: “The passwords, timetables, stop details and prices were passed through the defendant who was acting as an intermediary for the parties.”
Maher, who used Encrochat Satirical and Snacker for his messages, was arrested in October last year after the deaths of 39 Vietnamese found in a shipping container in Essex, but was never charged in connection with the deaths.
A spokesman for the National Crime Agency said officers seized vehicles, including a high-end Range Rover, a Land Rover Discovery and an imported Corvette worth 70,000 pounds 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.
GUILTY PLEA
Defender John Dye said Maher received between 3,000 and 5,000 euros (£ 2,700- £ 4,500) for the schemes he was accused of being involved in.
He said, “That is a very small amount compared to the value of the overall conspiracy.”
Dye said Maher pleaded guilty and did not attempt to legally challenge the evidence from the Encrochat devices, adding: “He has been brave enough to raise his hands as quickly as possible and not disturb the court.”
One count of conspiracy to commit a crime abroad, that of conspiracy to cause serious bodily harm to Ronan Hughes in Ireland between April 21 and 29 this year, was ordered to lie in the record after Maher se pleaded not guilty.
Haulier Hughes, 40, of Co Armagh in Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey in August to 39 counts of involuntary manslaughter following the deaths of Vietnamese immigrants.
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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 relied 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 the EncroChat messages he boasted of being involved in organized crime for more than 20 years, during which time it is very likely that he sent tons of drugs and tens of millions of pounds across Europe.”
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