EncroChat cases in Merseyside: drug lords, a cop killer and 2,200 convictions
Five years on from the EncroChat hack, Liverpool Echo revisits Merseyside's most significant cases arising from Operation Venetic, which has yielded over 2,200 convictions.
Merseyside's EncroChat reckoning: five years of convictions
The dismantling of the EncroChat encrypted messaging platform in early 2020 stands as one of the most consequential law enforcement operations in European history, the Liverpool Echo reports. For years, the platform had been used almost exclusively by organised criminals who believed the anonymity of their handles shielded them from detection — coordinating everything from cross-border drug supply to murder conspiracies.
After European law enforcement agencies accessed the domain and shared the data with UK counterparts, millions of intercepted messages were transformed into prosecution evidence. To mark the five-year anniversary of the hack, the Echo spoke with Wayne Johns, who led the National Crime Agency's (NCA) Operation Venetic.
Johns described the moment of access as "turning on a torch in a room with the lights off." The combined effort of the NCA and police forces across the country has since produced more than 2,200 convictions. Seizures include nearly 8,000 kilograms of cocaine, 486 kilograms of heroin, 2,170 kilograms of cannabis, and £83 million in criminal cash. A further 175 firearms were recovered, and during the ten-week operational window, 200 threats to life were prevented.
"The impact has been mind-blowing," Johns told the Echo. "I'm not aware of any other police operation that has had that type of impact. Without the Venetic material, I don't know how we would have found that golden nugget."
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Vincent Coggins and the Huyton Firm
Vincent Coggins led the Huyton Firm, a drug trafficking network that controlled much of Merseyside's narcotics trade for nearly three decades. Operation SubZero, run by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU), brought the organisation down using EncroChat data.
The gang imported and distributed multi-kilo quantities of cocaine and heroin throughout Merseyside and beyond. Their undoing came when £1 million worth of cocaine was stolen from a West Derby stash house by a Salford organised crime group. Rather than absorbing the loss, Coggins attempted to blackmail those he suspected of the theft — targeting the wrong individuals in the process.
Detectives monitored the messages as Coggins and his lieutenants planned to recoup the money and exact revenge. When the existence of the hack became public and direct threats to life emerged, officers moved in and made arrests. Coggins and seven others pleaded guilty; right-hand man Edward Jarvis fought the case to trial in early 2024.
The judge noted it was the first EncroChat investigation to reach the courts. All nine defendants received custodial sentences totalling more than 155 years. Coggins himself was sentenced to 28 years for conspiracy to blackmail and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
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Jonathan Cassidy's £26 million cocaine network
Former builder Jonathan Cassidy ran a drug empire worth an estimated £26 million alongside his Manchester business partner Nasar Ahmed and his younger brother Jamie — a former Liverpool football prodigy whose playing career ended prematurely through injury.
The operation centred on importing hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from South America, which was then distributed across their network throughout the north of England. Cassidy was so brazen on EncroChat that he compared his criminal enterprise to that of Mexican cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.
When the hack became known, Cassidy fled to Dubai, leaving his co-defendants to face arrest. Court proceedings later revealed that the men had been so confident in the security of their encrypted phones that they shared family photographs and personal details through the platform. Fingerprint analysis from a photograph Cassidy sent — showing him holding a box of Panadol — ultimately helped to identify him.
Jonathan Cassidy and Ahmed were each jailed for 21 years and nine months. Jamie received a sentence of 13 years and three months. A subsequent attempt by Cassidy and Ahmed to reduce their sentences at the Court of Appeal was unsuccessful.
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Thomas Maher: the 'ordinary dad' moving drugs for Colombian cartels
Thomas Maher of Warrington presented to neighbours as an unremarkable family man. His modest home on Wiltshire Close belied a driveway occupied by a Range Rover and a Corvette, while inside he kept Hublot and Rolex watches worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, original artwork, and a wall map constructed from bullet casings.
In reality, Maher was a drug courier operating on behalf of Colombian cartels, transporting cocaine and cash across Europe. He was first arrested in October 2019 after 39 Vietnamese nationals were found dead inside a lorry in Essex — a vehicle that had previously been registered in his wife's name. Maher was released without further action in connection with that case.
It was EncroChat evidence that eventually sealed his fate. Maher was subsequently convicted and jailed for more than 14 years for his role in moving narcotics and cash across the continent.
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The scale of Operation Venetic
The cases above represent only a fraction of the Merseyside prosecutions to have emerged from Operation Venetic over the past five years. Johns told the Echo that innovative analytical methods — including fingerprint recovery from photographs sent via the platform — have been central to identifying suspects who believed their EncroChat handles kept them invisible.
The operation, enabled by intelligence shared with UK authorities by French law enforcement, has dismantled some of the most entrenched organised crime groups operating in the country. Johns credited the French contribution as essential: "Without what was provided to us by the French, we wouldn't have had that impact."
Source: Liverpool Echo