A DUMBARTON man has been handed an 18-month prison sentence for his involvement in an organised crime group.
Stephen King was convicted of participating in the activities of the group contrary to the Serious Crime Act 2015.
The 49-year-old was part of a group that ran an industrial-scale amphetamine lab in Scotland and trafficked heroin and cocaine.
The group, which was dismantled by an investigation from the National Crime Agency (NCA), was based in Merseyside and was being run by Terence Earle, 49.
As well as Earle and King, the group involved Stanley Feerick, 68, and Stephen Singleton, 36 from Liverpool.
It is believed the group leader, Earle, used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to organise his criminality and recruit the help of the other men.
Back in December 2020, Lancashire Police, acting on behalf of NCA intelligence, seized more than 560 kilos of alpha-phenylacetoacetamide, which is a chemical used in the production of amphetamine, from the group, which Singleton had supplied.
According to the NCA, this would have been capable of producing around £1.1 million worth of amphetamine at the lab in Scotland.
In November 2020, Feerick was arrested when he was driving a lorry on the M6 motorway. Officers discovered heroin worth £300,000 and £20,000 in cash.
A search of his home led to the recovery of another £9,370 in cash.
NCA investigations also found that leader Earle had also used EncroChat to oversee the trafficking of heroin and cocaine from Scotland to Merseyside, and in the opposite direction, with the assistance of Lee Baxter, 48, from Liverpool.
All members of the group were arrested in March 2021 by the NCA.
Thereafter, Earle and Baxter pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court in October last year, with Feerick changing his plea to guilty on the day he was due to stand trial.
While Dumbarton man Stephen was convicted by a jury on December 15, 2022, after an eight-day trial.
Singleton pleaded guilty in February this year.
Handing down the sentences at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, April 18, the Dumbarton man was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, while the suspected leader of the gang, Earle, was handed a 16-and-a-half year prison sentence.
Stephen Singleton was sentenced to three years and four months, while Stanley Feerick is to be sentenced on May 3.
Baxter was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for 18 months.
Richie Davies, NCA Branch Commander, said: “This crime group posed a serious threat to communities across Scotland and Merseyside.
“They were intent on profiting from producing and supplying illegal drugs on a large scale, despite knowing the danger those drugs posed to users and others affected by the violence and exploitation fuelled by the trade.
“They tried to conceal their unlawful activities but the NCA’s investigation, supported by our partners in Scotland and Lancashire Police, has dismantled their criminal group.
“The sentencing demonstrates the importance of the NCA’s work to protect the public from the highest risk criminals impacting on the UK.”
The investigation from the NCA formed part of Operation Venetic, which is the UK NCA-led law enforcement response to the takedown of the EncroChat service in July 2020.
It was supported by the Scottish Organised Crime Partnership and the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce.
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