Man once cleared of murder locked up for 12 years after he's caught with 20kg of cocaine

A man who was once cleared of murder has been locked up for 12 years after he was caught importing 20kg of cocaine.

Dwaine George, 38, was using the name ‘Tenderpasta’ in the Encrochat network, an encrypted system used by criminals, to import the class A drug from Holland.

He was caught when GMP and NCA officers raided his uncle’s business at a joiner’s yard in Middleton, and intercepted a pallet.

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Stashed in boxes they found 20 kilos of cocaine.

The drugs were said to be between 70 and 73 per cent purity and were worth a street value of £1.6 million.

The raid was part of Operation Venetic which smashed the Encrochat system in June 2020 as part of a Europe-wide investigation.

After earlier pleading guilty to conspiracy to evade a prohibition on the importation of class A drugs and was today (March 14) jailed for 12 years.

It comes as George, who also used the name of Ibrahmeed Abdullah, was convicted of the murder of Daneil Dale, a teenager in Miles Platting, before being cleared after a court ruled his conviction was unsafe.

By the time he had succeeded in overturning the conviction, he had already served a life sentence which had a minimum term of 12 years.

In today's sentencing at Manchester Crown Court, prosecutor Alex Langhorn said that between April 1 2020 and April 1 2020, George, using the name ‘Tenderpasta’, and a user called ‘ Maxbro’ were discussing that the 20kg of cocaine was to be delivered to his uncle’s business premises.

“On April 7 2020, Maxbro contacted this defendant asking to arrange for a warehouse where he could get the pallet delivered to, in which the cocaine would be concealed inside,” he