The drugs and weapons dealer captured at Manchester Airport as he attempted to jet off to Dubai

A criminal gang leader who was snared in Manchester as he attempted to jet off to Dubai has been jailed for ‘industrial’ levels of drug supply.

Craig Gallagher, 36, was arrested at Manchester Airport in January 2021. Today (August 2), he was jailed for 24 years for multiple offences.

Such was the sophistication of Gallagher’s operation that the gang leased premises in Widnes, Cheshire, bought stock and even had fleece jackets made with the company name on – Clarke Computers and Software Limited. Under the guise, Gallagher also supplied firearms.

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They were caught by the National Crime Agency after EncroChat, the encrypted communications platform, was taken down in 2020. The chats showed the great lengths the gang went to in order to avoid detection.

They used a car, a Renault Twingo, with a specially built hide under the front passenger seat to move Class A drugs. As they continued to move drugs and money around the country during the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown they wanted to avoid being stopped by police.

So they used a breakdown recovery truck to conceal commodities and a window fitting van with one gang member wearing work clothes and employing a cover story that he was going to an emergency repair job.

Today (August 2), four members of the group were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting a raft of offences. Gallagher, of Inchape Road, Liverpool, was known on EncroChat by the handles Acidchest and Onion.com. He was jailed for 24 years.

While not personally being in possession of the guns, he admitted trying to broker the sales of firearms including an AR-15 assault rifle, AK47s, Glock handguns, a Skorpion machine