An EncroChat drug dealer disguised his operation as a car business while he transported kilograms of drugs labelled with the Netflix logo.
Richard Weild, 39, of Mount Pleasant Road, Wallasey, boasted that he could make £30,000 a week and specialised in adulterating cocaine for organised crime groups (OCGs) up and down the country. Weild became known for his expertise in bulking out multi-kilo deals of cocaine with branded labels stamped into the blocks of drugs.
He had a clothing and watch collection worth at least £70,000 and operated under the EncroChat handle of Blacklable. With more than 50 criminal contacts, including some overseas, he managed to supply County Lines drug gangs across the north west and as far afield as Plymouth and Southampton.
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EncroChat messages from Weild indicate that some of these groups would use Highways Maintenance vehicles and removal trucks as a disguise during Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. After the encrypted communications platform EncroChat was dismantled in 2020, the National Crime Agency (NCA) was able to share messages sent and received by Weild between March and June 2020 with Merseyside Police.
It was proved that within those four months Weild adulterated at least 62kgs of cocaine for other OCGs and charged them £1,500 per kilogram. He also supplied 14.75kg of cocaine, two kilograms of heroin and 41.5kg of cannabis to his own customers during that time frame.
Evidence showed that he also directed couriers to carry at least £800,000 in cash during the four-month period to various locations across the UK.
NCA senior manager Mick Maloney said: "Richard Weild was well-connected and viewed by OCGs as a real asset. He made vast amounts of money by happily playing a role in an illegal trade that kills people and destroys lives and communities.
"He's going to spend a long time in prison, a world away from his flashy lifestyle and the expensive goods he bought from the proceeds of crime. The OCP was created to help protect Merseyside from firearms and drugs crime and Weild's imprisonment is a good result for us all."
Weild owned the Gas Works Motor Company in Wavertree and masqueraded under the guise of a legitimate businessman. It's believed he made well over £1m from around June 2019 until his arrest in November 2021 by bulking out hundreds of kilograms of cocaine for crime groups.
Weild was sentenced in court after he admitted to supplying 5kg of heroin, 176kg of cocaine and 200kg of cannabis. Despite this, investigators believe he may have supplied hundred more to his own customers over a number of years.
Weild's EncroChat phone contained nearly 20,000 messages. Examples of him talking about how much money he made include:
"If I carry on making tops [cocaine] for people an get this weed parcel again I'll have life changing money"
"I looking at the bigger pic mate am getting along great the money coming in thick an fast an not putting myself out there got a easy life"
"I am happy cracking on I can make 30k a week sometimes no hassle"
"I have made so much money of this ye know"
"Wait till you see these jobs I make they look heavy I made 12-15 for these kids in 2-3 weeks ... making another 4 into 5 tomo"
"Been making 4 to 5 EV week 7500 cash. For one group ... I make em for a good few people mate I can get you any stamp you need"
"I can get use what ever stamp use want get them copied as the same tops your sending so you can mix then in your work think about it"
"Lost a very very good punter this week ... I had a good run about 4-5 yrs out of him"
Weild employed assistant John Morris, 50, to look after a safe house in Dalemeadow Road, Knotty Ash, where Morris lived and where they bulked the Class A drugs. The pair were arrested on November 9, 2021.
Approximately 20kg of class A and B drugs were seized from the safe house (2.214kg of cocaine, 3,171 2-CB tablets, 35.4g MDMA, 16.75kg of cannabis, 1.5kg of cannabis resin), along with 22kg of adulterants, and paraphernalia used for the adulteration of cocaine.
Thirteen cars were seized from Weild's motor business. A Proceeds of Crime Act investigation into Weild's wealth is now underway.
Judge David Aubrey KC said Weild ran a "highly sophisticated serious organised crime group”, and dealt in "huge" quantities of drugs. He added that Weild was "leading the good life at the expense of others" with his "trade of misery and destruction".
Weild pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court in January 2022 to conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin, MDMA, 2-CB, cannabis and transferring criminal property. Richard Weild, 39, of Mount Pleasant Road, Wallasey, was jailed for 19 years and six months.
Morris admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine, MDMA, 2-CB and possession with intent to supply cannabis. He was jailed for 10 years.
Though Weild pleaded guilty more than a year ago, sentencing hearings were repeatedly adjourned after he sacked numerous defence barristers. Earlier this year he appeared in court with a revised basis of plea in which he admitted supplying wholesale quantities of cocaine, but minutes later sacked his barrister and said he wished to change his plea to not guilty. Weeks later he reversed this decision again.
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