THREE men, including a father and son, have been jailed over a plot to supply cocaine and cannabis worth £4m.
Ricky Lee, 31, Christopher Gresty, 56, and his son Louis Gresty, 25, from Salford, even continued dealing drugs in Manchester, Liverpool, and Coventry during the first coronavirus lockdown. Now they have been jailed thanks to evidence obtained from their EncroChat phones.
Lee used his ill-gotten gains to pay for IVF treatment, holding a 'gender reveal' party during lockdown. In video seized by police, Lee is even captured counting a pile of cash and saying: "What d'you reckon that is? Half a day's work!?"
Their operation was smashed by Greater Manchester Police as part of Operation Venetic, the force's initiative to mine incriminating data hacked by law enforcement from EncroChat's servers in northern France in April 2020. The encrypted devices were exclusively used by criminals, according to police.
Ricky Lee used EncroChat handles 'scarygate' and 'shockingstar' to communicate with others and organise the wholesale acquisition and supply of cocaine and cannabis across Manchester, Liverpool and even Coventry, a court heard.
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