A senior member of an organised crime group that ran an amphetamine lab in Scotland has been jailed for 13 years.
Colin Wright, 38, fled to Murcia in Spain to keep away from seize after his fellow gang members had been caught in Nationwide Crime Company (NCA) operation in March 2021.
Wright, previously from Motherwell, was the chief of the group’s Scottish arm and was actively concerned in trafficking heroin and cocaine.
He’s the ultimate member of the gang to be jailed, with six others already in jail.
Wright labored alongside Terence Earle, 50, who was jailed for over 16 years and his cousin Stephen Earle, 52, who was sentenced for 11 years and 4 months in August.
He used the encrypted telephone community EncroChat utilizing the deal with “Jack Nicklaus” to supply medication, assess provide routes and discover prospects.
The NCA investigation shaped a part of Operation Venetic, the UK-led response to the takedown of the EncroChat service in July 2020.
Wright pleaded responsible to 5 drug fees at Liverpool Crown Court docket final month.
He created an amphetamine lab in Motherwell in March 2020 in the course of the first Covid lockdown. It was able to producing 1,000kg of amphetamine.
He additionally helped ship a minimum of 20kgs of cocaine and 10kg of heroin between Motherwell and Merseyside.
NCA Department Commander Cat McHugh stated: “Wright’s case exhibits that criminals who search refuge overseas are by no means immune from legislation enforcement’s attain.
“His sentencing signifies that we’ve got fully dismantled this organised crime group, who posed a grave hazard to communities in Scotland and Merseyside, with the medication they trafficked serving to to gasoline violence and exploitation.”
