A CORK man who was part of an international drug trafficking gang has been jailed for 24 years after his co-conspirators were nabbed through accidental selfies and a picture of a pet dog.
Leon Reilly, 50, from Dunbeacon in Bantry, was sentenced at Kingston-Upon-Thames Crown Court in England on Tuesday along with his fellow gang members for conspiracy to evade the prohibition on the exportation of a controlled Class A drug.
Stefan Baldauf, 52, of Midhurst Road, Ealing, London, was jailed for 28 years, while Danny Brown, 55, of Kings Hall Road, Bromley, Kent, was jailed for 26 years.
Leon Reilly from Dunbeacon in Bantry, Co. Cork (Image: NCA)Peter Murray, 59, was sentenced to 24 years, Philip Lawson, 61, of Wraysbury Road, Staines-upon-Thames, received 23 years and Tony Borg, 44, of Southwark Path, Basildon, Essex, was jailed for 15 years.
The men, who communicated using the now-defunct encrypted communications platform EncroChat, had attempted to send £45m worth of MDMA to Australia concealed in an excavator.
"These men thought they were safe on EncroChat but my officers did a superb and painstaking job of building the evidence against them through a mixture of traditional and modern detective skills," said Chris Hill, NCA operations manager.
Encrochat selfies
On EncroChat, which was shut down in 2020, users adopt a 'handle', which investigators must attribute to real-world suspects.
However, the platform only served to contribute to the gang's eventual downfall.
In one message, Brown sent a photo to the group of his television, which showed his reflection in it.
Brown accidentally included his reflection in a snap of his TV (Image: NCA)Meanwhile, on his way to a meeting with Brown, Baldauf sent a picture of a brass door sign with his face visible on the reflective surface, which was used to prove he had control of the device.
The 'cherry on the cake', however, was an image Brown sent Baldauf of his French Bulldog, Bob.
When NCA officers zoomed in on the image, they saw the phone number of Brown's partner on the animal's tag.
Rigged auction
Between June 2019 and June 2020, Brown and Baldauf oversaw the operation,
Borg accepted delivery of the 40-tonne Doosan excavator into a warehouse in Grays, Essex, which was moved from Leeds by a haulage firm paid by Reilly's company, Mizen Equipment.
Murray then delivered the drugs to the same warehouse, where Lawson cut open the excavator arm and concealed 210 bags of MDMA inside.
French Bulldog Bob with the incriminating tag (blurred) (Image: CPS)After sealing the arm, the machine was moved to Southampton Docks.
They organised an online auction to make the excavator's eventual arrival Down Under look legitimate but rigged the process by agreeing a pre-arranged bid with the Australian organised crime gang (OCG).
However, the auction provided the British-based gang with a nervous moment when other potential genuine buyers registered their interest in the digger.
Baldauf captured himself in the reflection from a sign (Image: NCA)Irishman Reilly — who used a British address of Tudor Way, Hillingdon, Uxbridge — messaged Brown on EncroChat, saying: "There are six people watching it."
Brown, who used the handle 'throwthedice', replied: "F*****g hell, that's not good is it."
Tracker device
After the sale went through as planned, the digger was shipped to Australia where Border Force officers discovered the drugs after x-raying the machine.
They removed the drugs, sealed the arm and installed a tracker and listening device before letting it move on to an auction house in Sydney.
The digger was then moved to a small site west of Sydney in May 2020, with Reilly exchanging numerous encrypted EncroChat messages with Brown and Baldauf to update them on its progress.
Australian officials removed the MDMA before sending the digger on with a tracking device fitted (Image: CPS)Lawson forwarded the Australian OCG a drawn diagram of exactly where the drugs were hidden and how the digger should be opened.
Two men from the gang spent two days trying to find the drugs before realising something was wrong.
EncroChat messages show the six British-based gang members launched their own investigation and held meetings to find out who had stolen the drugs.
X-rays showing the MDMA hidden in the excavator (Image: CPS)On June 15, 2020 Brown and Baldauf were arrested together in Putney, south-west London by NCA officers as part of Operation Venetic.
Brown was in possession of his Encro phone.
In Baldauf's car was an iPhone with messages on it showing that he told people his Encro handle was 'Boldmove'.
Further investigation led to the remaining defendants' arrests in the following months.
'Incriminating'
"Brown and Baldauf's accidental selfies and the photo of Bob the dog were the cherry on the cake in proving who was operating those handles," added Hill.
Colette Moore, Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The use of encrypted EncroChat phones failed to prevent the organised criminals being identified and prosecuted.
"In fact, the messages established, beyond doubt, that these men were responsible for the drug export to Australia.
"The more they used them, the deeper the incriminating hole they dug for themselves."
Custody photos of Danny Brown, Stefan Baldauf, Peter Murray, Tony Borg, Leon Reilly and Philip Lawson (Images: NCA)