A cage fighter nicknamed “The Bear” has been jailed for eight and a half years for acting as the muscle for a huge cocaine empire that supplied criminal gangs across Scotland and the UK. The conviction followed French authorities cracking the highly encrypted EncroChat messaging service in 2020, exposing the dealings of gangsters, drug lords, weapons dealers and county lines runners.
The Tobin brothers' operation
Former UFC competitor Robbie “The Bear” Broughton was the enforcer for Liverpool brothers Alan and John Tobin, collecting debts, moving vast sums of cash and dealing with notorious gang leaders as their criminal operation raked in millions. Prosecutors described the brothers' business as a “criminally sophisticated, highly profitable and well-organised” enterprise that ran for more than four years between 2016 and 2020.
Their empire stretched from Merseyside to gangs in Scotland, England and Wales, trading primarily in cocaine, but also in heroin, cannabis and ketamine. The operation unravelled after police seized 186kg of cocaine worth an estimated £20million from a van on the M6 near Knutsford. The haul, intercepted on August 2, 2018, was the largest ever seizure of cocaine on land in the UK at the time. The drugs, some up to 90 per cent pure, had been concealed beneath floorboards and inside a specially adapted hide.
Broughton's role as enforcer
Broughton, 38, from St Helens, did not directly handle drugs but was used to “enforce unpaid debts”, while also helping move around £30million in cash. He used the encrypted EncroChat phone handle “NovaBear” and was in regular contact with the Cullen brothers. He also offered cash-moving services to other gangs for a 7.5 per cent commission.
Broughton had been friends with the Tobins for around 20 years through gyms where they trained and worked. He had five convictions for nine offences, including possessing a bladed article in 2007 and battery in 2009. Defending him, Anthony Barraclough argued he should be sentenced as a money launderer rather than an enforcer within a drugs plot, saying there was no evidence Broughton had used violence against anyone and stressed that his enormous physical presence could itself make him appear as an “enforcer”.
Barraclough described Broughton as a “good man, a good father, a good husband and a good friend”, but admitted he had been foolish to become involved. He said Broughton was working as a doorman through the night and was not with the Tobins every day, claiming he was “used when he was needed”.
But Judge Garrett Byrne rejected the argument, saying it was “entirely artificial” to characterise Broughton simply as a money launderer. The judge said: “His role is to be more properly characterised as an enforcer - he was the muscle - he collected debts paid and couriered large amounts of money around.” As he sentenced him to eight and a half years behind bars, the judge warned: “I've no doubt you have a keen sense of letting your family down and I hope when you're released you have their best interests uppermost in your mind.”
Sentences and wider network
Alan Tobin, 52, was jailed for 20 years, while John Tobin, 40, received 19 years and eight months. Both admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine. Simon Leech, 29, was described as a “conduit” between the Tobins and the Cullens. He provided and serviced vehicles from his garage for the Tobins over a 10-month period and was jailed for eight years after admitting the cocaine plot. Brian McQuillan, 51, acted as a courier and made more than 21 journeys in just six weeks during March and April 2018, transporting around £4million in cash. He was caged for six years and four months after admitting money laundering.
The scale of the Tobins’ operation was further exposed by the EncroChat hack under Operation Venetic, with messages between March and May 2020 discussing 73kg of heroin, 83kg of cocaine, 57kg of ketamine and 78kg of cannabis.
