A crime group that pushed kilos of drugs to Scotland was exposed for its illegal activities by notebooks and burner phones. The gang used a network of drug runners to supply dealers with cocaine and cannabis across the UK.
Jamie Walsh, described as the organiser of the gang, was first arrested in March 2018, when the National Crime Agency (NCA) raided his address near Liverpool. Photographs of the raid showed kilos of cannabis inside Primark bags and black bin bags.
Arrest and flight
The 37-year-old was bailed but fled the country in April 2019 and remained on the run until December 2022, when he was detained in Spain. The criminal was finally brought to justice at Liverpool Crown Court, five years after his initial arrest.
The court heard NCA officers began targeting the Merseyside organisation back in 2017, as part of an investigation dubbed 'Operation Sultane'. Stephen McNally, prosecuting, said that Walsh had been proven to have supplied 96kg of cannabis and 3.75kg of cocaine between July 2017 and his arrest in March 2018.
Key evidence
Detectives discovered that Walsh employed Matthew Lee, 34; Craig Garner, 45, and Claire Stevens, 45, to traffic drugs across the country. The group did so via the motorways and railway networks, with officials believing there to be several other couriers still out there yet to be identified.
When Walsh was arrested, his home was searched and notebooks were seized. Mr McNally said: "Handwritten notes in notebooks found at his address demonstrate, the prosecution say, that he played a leading role in this organisation."
Those notes included a 'tick-list' type entry which refers to money paid out for 4kg of cannabis (four greens and 12,000). There is also reference to the supply of 2kg of cannabis to an unidentified customer.
"Another list is consistent with Jamie Walsh being supplied with 1.5 kilograms of cocaine for which he owed payment. There is a reference to two half-kilogram quantities of cocaine priced at £22,500 and £20,000 respectively, and there are further notes consistent with the supply of two 'quarter' kilograms of cocaine to 'Matty', a reference the prosecution say to Matthew Lee."
"Another entry refers to debts owed to Jamie Walsh from eight customers which reaches a total just short of £46,000 and references reading 'Give P 28,000' and 'Give P – 14,900' which give an impression of the scale of overall business."
Encrypted communications
The court heard during the conspiracy period Jamie Walsh used 14 different unregistered 'Pay As You Go' mobile numbers to communicate with co-conspirators. Upon his arrest, Walsh was in possession of three mobile devices: a 'smart phone', a 'Nokia' and an encrypted EncroChat phone.
McNally described texts recovered from other phones. He told the court: "Jamie Walsh employed coded-language in his text communications which was again designed to conceal his actual enterprise. He referred to the sale and purchase of 'dogs' as a cover for his communications with his couriers and customers about drugs."
"When his address was searched there was no evidence to suggest that there had been any dog-breeding enterprise taking place there."
For his crimes, Judge Anil Murray sentenced Walsh to be jailed for 11 years and 11 months.
