Trafficker who smuggled ‘lorry loads’ of drugs across the Irish Sea is jailed

West Yorkshire criminal Faran Ashraf (36) was a significant figure in a large-scale cannabis dealing enterprise, police believed.

He controlled numerous cannabis grows across his local area and distributed the product across Europe, around the UK and over the Irish Sea.

His identity was cracked by investigators when he told users on a secret chat platform that it was his birthday.

Ashraf and other criminals would communicate anonymously on the encrypted network Encrochat.

When investigators infiltrated the group of crooks moving drugs around Europe, they honed in on one user – using the handle ‘mac-man’ – when he revealed it was his birthday.

The clue brought police to closer to Ashraf, who was arrested and charged in February last year with conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.

He admitted ‘mac-man’ was his username and plead guilty to being a big figure in a “large-scale cannabis dealing enterprise.”

Ashraf insisted that when he used the words ‘sniff’, ‘coke’, ‘tops’ and ‘white’ in his secret chats, he meant cannabis and not cocaine.

This was despite seeking assistance from other users to process 160 litres of liquid cocaine.

The jury at Bradford Crown Court did not believe he was not seeking to move cocaine, and found him guilty of conspiracy to supply the drug.

It involved a conspiracy to “move lorry loads of cannabis around the UK and across the Irish Sea,” a spokesperson for the West Yorkshire Police said.

He was jailed at Bradford Crown Court yesterday for more than 12 years following an investigation by officers at West Yorkshire Police’s Digital Intelligence and Investigation Unit.

He received 12 years and six months for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and handed eight years and nine months for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

“Ashraf believed he could evade law enforcement by using the Encrochat network to communicate about and organise the facilitation of illegal drugs between West Yorkshire and Europe,” said Detective Inspector Tom Levitt.

“However, our investigation into his online activities managed to uncover his identity and bring him before the courts where he has today received a lengthy sentence.

“This outcome should serve as a warning of what penalties people can expect, if they are found to be using such networks for the facilitation of illegal drugs.”