A Scottish organised crime group has been jailed after French authorities cracked the highly encrypted Encrochat messaging service in 2020, exposing their drugs empire, firearms and hand grenades.
The group, led by convicted cocaine dealer David Hough, known as Murfy, was brought down after police raided a street valium factory in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, and a safe house in the Milton area of Glasgow in June 2020.
Officers found a laboratory capable of producing almost 2,000 street valium pills per minute, as well as deadly guns, hand grenades, heroin and cocaine. The discoveries were made thanks to Operation Venetic, the Europe-wide investigation into the Encrochat phone network used by criminals.
Encrypted phones key to investigation
Encrypted phones were found in the homes of Hough, of East Kilbride, and his associate Hugh McHugh, of Milton. The devices contained crucial links to the drugs empire and revealed a series of damning messages.
At court, prosecutors said Hough was involved in the 'business and marketing side' of the drugs lab, with McHugh having a "hands on role". The pair communicated daily, sometimes exchanging more than 50 messages a day, referring to cocaine using designer names such as Gucci. Hough also sent a photo of firearms to McHugh.
The operation involved the storage and adulteration of class A drugs and the production of etizolam tablets for onward supply. Commercial, industrial and residential premises were used to store drugs, adulterants, firearms and money.
Raids uncover weapons and drugs
When police raided the padlocked factory on Rannoch Road in Johnstone, they found 228,000 tablets with a potential street value of £114,027. One machine in the lab had the potential to make a further 118,000 tablets per hour.
At the Milton home, two hand grenades, five slam guns, a revolver and more than 50 bullets were found alongside £27,650 worth of cocaine, some with a purity of 78 per cent.
Hough admitted to being involved in serious organised crime between April and June 2020 and was sentenced to six years, reduced from nine due to his guilty plea. McHugh pled guilty to the same charge. Morrison pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of etizolam, and Dalziel admitted to charges of being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine after a raid at the second flat in Milton.
