'Tubbyfern' and dad jailed over cannabis and cocaine empire

A FATHER and son have been locked up over a plot to supply cocaine and cannabis worth £4million.

- ASHLIE BLAKEY

 

Antony Peers, 67, and his 37-yearold son – also called Antony Peers – were jailed for their part in a huge drugs conspiracy in the Astley and Tyldesley areas.

Greater Manchester Police said the father and son had been ‘operating the enterprise for years’.

They played different roles in the plot while living just doors apart from each other on North Lane in Astley.

The younger Peers used the Encrochat handle ‘Tubbyfern’ to communicate with others and organise sourcing and supplying the cocaine.

He also operated cannabis farms, police said. The older Peers also ‘played a vital role’ in the operation, using a hydraulic press to mix and repress blocks of cocaine in his garage.

Three other men, Ricky Lee, 31, Christopher Gresty, 56, and his son Louis Gresty, 25, all from Salford, were jailed last December for their roles in the crime racket. The operation was smashed by GMP 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.