Encrochat dealer who took selfies posing with drugs arrested at Manchester Airport

A 'wholesale' Encrochat dealer who took selfies posing with drugs was busted by police after landing at Manchester Airport.

John Barton, who went by the username 'CityHawk', used the encrypted messaging platform to sell huge quantities of class A drugs - however detectives targeting the network identified him following a hack in 2020.

He was identified from the encrypted data where he had shared images taken at his home addresses in Walton and Formby, including a selfie with him posing with what appears to be a wrap of cocaine, the ECHO reports.

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Another image - a picture of a Walther PKK handgun - sent to fellow EncroChat user Daniel Rushworth allowed detectives to tie the two criminals' seemingly unrelated offending together.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how the pair, whose principle trades involved drug supply, saw an opportunity to make money through the brokering of the gun. Barton, formerly of Green Street, Vauxhall, was involved in the supply of at least 140kg of cocaine between March 26 2020 and June 3 2020.

However, Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, told the court on November 1 how Barton messaged Rushworth, whose EncroChat name was 'OctoRed', a photo of the gun after he was offered the weapon as a drug debt. After receiving the picture, Rushworth asked "is that for sale, yeah?" to which Barton confirmed.

Rushworth then asked "any slugs" before sending on a copied message from an unidentified potential buyer which said: "That's a...this me pal was on about...don't ask me mad questions about it cos I don't know. La's just aim it at people and shoot