Downfall of the massive drugs conspiracy led by 'ThickBoar' and 'Octo-hand'

An extensive drug operation led by two cousins and a Scottish dad saw huge quantities of drugs imported and supplied before a search of a lorry search brought it all down.

The organised crime group (OCG) was led by 'kingpin' Terence Earle and his cousin Stephen, who used the EncroChat handles 'ThickBoar' and 'Octo-hand'. They worked with Colin Wright, from Motherwell in Scotland, to import drugs from 'Europe and beyond' before trafficking them across the UK.

The gang also stashed hundreds of kilograms of a drug in a Blackpool holiday park, which they used to create amphetamines in a secret £1 million lab in Scotland. However, the gang's racket was finally unravelled by a National Crime Agency (NCA) probe, codenamed Operation Joyfully, which was set up to investigate the three men's criminal empire.

And following three separate sentencing hearings at Liverpool Crown Court, the three are now all behind bars, where they will remain for much of the next decade. Following the sentencing of Wright, 38, this week, the gang's operations can be revealed in full.

The investigation formed part of Operation Venetic, the UK NCA-led law enforcement response to the takedown of the encrypted communication platform EncroChat. EncroChat was described this week in court as 'the platform of choice for those on the upper echelons of serious and organised criminality'.

The investigation was launched into the importation of drugs from Europe and beyond that was being supplied in England and Scotland. The probe was built around the analysis of EncroChat messages, handed to the NCA by their European counterparts following the hacking of the encrypted messaging platform, 'supplemented by some careful surveillance evidence'.

The Earles and