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Philip Barnes represented the prosecution in the case known as “Operation Ceiler”. The case, which was heard at Bolton Crown Court, involved the prosecution of three men – Carl Jones, Harly Wise and Naginder Gill – for large scale organised criminal activity, uncovered as a result of the EncroChat breach brought about by the National Crime Agency and their European partners.
The defendants faced multiple offences including conspiracies to supply Class A and Class B drugs, conspiracy to transfer prohibited firearms, conspiracy to kidnap, and conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of cocaine. The offending was carried out using the EncroChat encrypted communications network and took place between the end of March and mid-June 2020.
After a series of hearings, including two trials, Wise was convicted of conspiracies to supply cocaine and other drugs, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to transfer prohibited firearms; Jones was convicted of various drugs conspiracies and the firearms offending, and Gill was convicted of conspiracies to supply cocaine and heroin, and also of conspiracy to import cocaine from the Netherlands.
All three operated as brokers for drugs on a large-scale commercial basis, supplying drugs throughout the United Kingdom. Using EncroChat, and other encrypted platforms, the defendants arranged and facilitated multi-kilogram drug transactions on a regular basis, connecting buyers and sellers and seeking to take a percentage profit from the deals they intended to arrange. The drugs involved included cocaine, heroin (diamorphine), methylamphetamine, cannabis and ketamine.
Jones and Wise also conspired to trade in illegal firearms, gathering information about weapons for sale and then seeking to connect sellers with buyers, for their own financial gain. In Wise’s case, two firearms transactions were completed before law enforcement intervention led to arrests and the recovery of firearms, ammunition, silencers and cocaine.
In an effort to enforce a £350,000 debt owed by another criminal, Wise conspired with others to plan the abduction and torture of the debtor – a plan which was foiled by the intervention of law enforcement agencies before it had chance to come to fruition.
After a two-day sentence hearing, Carl Jones received a total sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, Harly Wise was given 25 years, and Naginder Gill was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.
The National Crime Agency press release, published at the conclusion of the case, can be found here:
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