A trucking boss who lived in a modest three-bedroom home was actually living a double life as a drug baron.
Thomas Maher was sentenced to 14 years and eight months in prison in December 2020 for transporting drugs and cash across Europe. He has also been ordered to pay back £630,000.
The 42-year-old lived in a modest three-bedroom detached house but had a string of expensive vehicles including a Mercedes GLS valued at £150,000 and a £70,000 Corvette.
He also owned around £600,000 worth of watches and spent around £70,000 in holidays in just three years, reports the MEN.
Evidence obtained by the National Crime Agency as part of Operation Venetic showed that he operated a transportation network spanning Europe, moving drugs into the UK and Ireland and the profits in the other direction by using the encrypted chat service EncroChat.
On Monday, a judge at Liverpool Crown Court made a confiscation order for £629,159, including Maher's Warrington home, as well as jewellery, watches, vehicles and other items, or face a futher six years in jail.
Maher was conducting up to a dozen conversations a day using the 'EncroChat' network, a court previously heard, providing transport and contacts for smuggling across Europe.
He was snared for his part in the criminal network after 39 Vietnamese people suffocated in a lorry in Essex. His home in Woolston was raided in October 2019, as the tractor unit involved was registered in his wife's name.
Maher has not faced any action in connection with the deaths and there's no suggestion he was involved in that part of the criminal network. However the NCA (National Crime Agency) inquiry into Maher began when they were tipped off by Essex police who were suspicious of his lifestyle.
NCA officers went on a seven-month surveillance operation as Maher met with other crooks in hotels and other venues to organise cocaine to be shipped from the Netherlands to the UK and Ireland.
Maher was also involved in moving large amounts of dirty money, receiving a commission for his part in the illegal activity.
Maher was arrested on June 13 2020, after the NCA found he was planning to leave the country. He was sentenced after pleading guilty to importing class A drugs and money laundering.
The NCA’s Head of Asset Denial, Rob Burgess, said: “This significant result demonstrates the agency’s ability to recover criminal assets, and prevent criminals from benefitting from their wrongdoing.
"Thomas Maher was a career criminal who was trusted by some of Europe’s biggest crime groups to move their drugs and money. The confiscation order will ensure money he made will be returned to the public purse to fund further efforts to protect the public from organised crime.”
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