A pair of EncroChat drug dealers who flooded Liverpool with kilos of class A drugs will have to pay back hundreds of thousands of pounds of their ill-gotten gains.
Clifford McNamee, 47, of Tern Close, Melling, and Nathan Sweeney, 46, of Fern Close, Kirkby, were involved in a large-scale conspiracy to supply class A drugs around Liverpool. But both were ensnared as part of Operation Venetic – an international investigation into the use of EncroChat – after "abroad forces" infiltrated the encrypted devices and found their communications.
The pair worked together using the handles CliffsHard and RigidForce to buy and sell multi-kilos of class A drugs worth tens of thousands of pounds between April and June 2020. Both men owned one encrypted device and were identified based on images and messages sent.
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McNamee’s device was found to be pinging off phone masts in the L33 area near his home, and he also sent an image of a letter from his employer with his name and address on it. Similarly, Sweeney sent images of a quad bike that was owned by him, including a picture of the bike in front of his home and in a garage that he also homed, and his phone pinged off masts near his home.
Though the exact amount of drugs supplied by the men could not be accurately determined due to encrypted devices being used, Liverpool Crown Court heard that Sweeney was in discussions to supply around 10kg, but the actual amount he obtained was somewhere between 5-10kg.
McNamee was involved in the lesser amount of 5kg of class A drugs, but was deemed to be playing a lesser role in the crimes, and acted as a subordinate to Sweeney. Following their sentencings in December last year, Sweeney was jailed for ten years, one month and McNamee was sent down for nine years, one month.
Both men's defences told the court their clients played an integral role within the prison system acting as mentors to other prisoners. However, the pair were hauled before the courts again last week for a confiscation hearing to determine how much of their ill-gotten gains they will have to pay back.
McNamee received a £369,935 benefit order while Sweeney will have to pay back £841,961. They now have three months to collectively pay more than £300,000 of their ill-gotten gains or they face the prospect of extra jail time.
A spokesperson for North West Regional Organised Crime Unit told the ECHO the pair collectively have £300,000 at this time. McNamee has £33,029 available to pay while Sweeney has £287,165.
The remainder of their debt will never leave them as benefit orders are a lifetime order. NWROCU said it would continually enforce the order until all the money has been paid.
Detective Sergeant Dave Vesty, from NWROCU's economic crime team, said: "McNamee and Sweeney both supplied multi-kilos of cocaine and heroin across Merseyside, no doubt bringing misery to the communities they operated in.
"Their sentences, along with many other Venetic sentences across the UK, shows that organised crime does not pay. Not only will you go to jail, but we have demonstrated here that we will stop at nothing until criminals who commit these serious offences are stripped of all their ill gotten gains, ensuring their criminal money is reinvested into our communities."
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