Bromley (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The National Crime Agency (NCA) uncovers £45M drug plot after a French bulldog reveals clues; two Bromley traffickers must forfeit over £1M in crime proceeds.
Following the NCA’s lead in taking down the encrypted chat app EncroChat, Stefan Baldauf, 64, and Philip Lawson, 63, were arrested as members of an organized crime group.
According to the NCA, the group planned to hide 448 kg of amphetamine, valued at £45 million, in the arm of an excavator and deliver it to Australian accomplices. However, the scheme failed when group member Danny Brown texted Baldauf a photo of his French bulldog, Bob, with his partner’s phone number on the tag.
Brown, 57, of Kings Hall Road, Bromley, was charged in the plot after investigators focused on the number and used it along with other sources of evidence.
In order to communicate a planned meeting spot, Baldauf, of Midhurst Road, Ealing, also posted an image on EncroChat that featured his own reflection in a brass door sign.
People seemed to communicate with one another on Encrochat because they believed the encrypted platform was impenetrable.
The two continued to entangle themselves in an array of “accidental selfies” over time.
They even disguised their identities by using anonymous fake identities, such as “throwthedice”.
The plot fell apart when police found the dog’s name and Brown’s partner’s phone number in the picture.
Baldauf was forced to pay back more than £1 million when he appeared at Kingston Crown Court.
The 64-year-old, who was previously jailed for 28 years in prison in 2022, has been given three months to make amends or face a further seven years behind bars.
After being found to be a member of the organized crime ring, Philip Lawson, 63, got a 23-year sentence.
He is said to have designed the drugs concealed within the digger and arranged for a welder to cut it open and reseal it.
He was given three months to make the payment or risk having three more years added to his sentence. He was also forced to pay just over £182k.
Operation Venetic was the name of the inquiry that led to this conclusion.
Brown was given a 26-year prison sentence and was scheduled to appear in court later this year.
William Sartin, 63, of Basildon’s Timberlog Lane, will also make an appearance.
After it was found that Sartin had hidden the excavator in his industrial unit, he was previously sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Chris Hill, who was leading the investigation, said:
“These criminals did not care about the misery and exploitation that the supply of illegal drugs bring to the UK and Australian communities.
All they cared about was money.
So these proceedings are immensely painful for them, hitting them in their pockets, and are a crucial way of showing other organized criminals that the consequences do not end when the prison door slams shut.
The NCA continues to do everything possible, working at home and abroad, to protect the public from the threat of illegal drug supply.”
What was the role of EncroChat in the exposing of Bromley’s drug plot?
The group utilized EncroChat, a previously encrypted network that was accessible on tampered devices, to communicate with each other.
Members of organized crime mainly used it to organize their activities, and it permitted encrypted communication between subscribers.
Operation Venetic was a major police investigation that focused on criminals who used encrypted devices.
EncroChat could be used by criminals to cover up themselves behind code identities while engaging in money laundering, drug distribution, and other activities.
When the gangs were disbanded throughout the operation, which resulted in 746 arrests overall, thousands of criminal plots were disrupted.
About 10,000 people in the UK and 60,000 individuals globally are estimated to have used EncroChat.
Detective Superintendent Ian Dyball, of the Serious Crime Command, said: “The cracking of the EncroChat network was a landmark moment in the fight against organised criminal activity across the UK.
It enabled us to intercept the illicit trade of some of the most dangerous criminal gangs operating in our country.
We have used every piece of intelligence we can gather from this network to disrupt their supply chains, to arrest the most senior criminals involved, and prove beyond doubt that they were responsible for the drugs that cause so much harm to individuals and communities.
The reality of illegal drug supply on the streets is the widespread exploitation of vulnerable people, often children, and violence.
Our work to dismantle drug supply networks is ceaseless. Our message to those supplying these substances is simple: It is a matter of when, not if, you are caught.”
How do recent UK drug crime trends reflect the £45M Bromley trafficking case?
Drug-related crime in the UK remains a recurring problem. The figures also show regional fluctuations.
The number of drug offenses in England and Wales increased slightly, from 179,467 incidents last year to 181,421 by March 2024.
Drug crime rates are higher in some regions than others. For example, Dorset had the lowest rate at 1.3 offenses per 1,000 people, while Merseyside, which includes Liverpool, had the highest rate at 8.6 offenses.
With an anticipated 9.5% of individuals between the ages of 16 and 59 reporting drug usage in the year ending March 2023, this increase is part of a larger environment where drug misuse is still a major problem.
The complexity and scope of drug trafficking operations in the UK are exemplified by the case of the Bromley drug trafficker who unintentionally revealed a £45 million drug scheme.