Efforts are said to be ongoing to trace Daryll Samuel Hall who absconded prior to his trial in November and who remains at large following his conviction and today’s (Tue Jan 7) sentencing in the case.
He was one of four final members of an organised crime group which peddled drugs and firearms across the north of England to have been jailed following a long-running National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
The group was headed by 39-year-old Carl O’Flaherty, who was jailed for more than 17 years in 2023.
(Image: National Crime Agency (NCA)) His criminal enterprise was foiled as part of Operation Venetic, the NCA-led UK response to the infiltration and “takedown” of the encrypted communications platform, EncroChat.
Between 2019 and late 2020 the gang bought large quantities of cocaine as well as chemicals required to make amphetamine.
(Image: National Crime Agency (NCA)) The drugs and chemicals were taken to addresses in Leeds and Bradford where gang members, referred to as “chefs”, would produce amphetamine and adulterate the cocaine for onward supply.
(Image: National Crime Agency (NCA)) Three of O’Flaherty’s aides and one of his criminal associates were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court today (Tuesday January 7) after being found guilty of drug supply offences following a three-week trial in November last year.
Michal Stanislawczuk, 39, also known by his EncroChat handles, ‘Sizabelarm’ and ‘Polishshaman’, received a 12-year sentence for his role as a chef, which included an unsuccessful attempt to extract cocaine dissolved in 37 litres of oil.
(Image: National Crime Agency (NCA)) Another of the gang’s chefs, 38-year-old David Brierley, produced amphetamine and was unmasked as the user behind EncroChat handle ‘Kingchef-uk’.
He received a total sentence of 12 years and six months.
(Image: National Crime Agency (NCA)) Safdar Pervez, 57, a taxi driver who moonlighted as a trusted courier for the criminal network, operated under perceived darkness behind his ‘Satanicgate’ EnroChat handle.
(Image: National Crime Agency (NCA)) For his role ferrying large quantities of drugs and tens of thousands of pounds across the north, Pervez was jailed for 11 years.
One of his regular trips was to County Durham to deliver kilos of diluted cocaine to 39-year-old Hall, said to have been one of O’Flaherty’s “top customers”.
(Image: National Crime Agency (NCA)) Hall, of Farnley Close, Spennymoor, was convicted of conspiracy to supply class A drugs at the end of the trial and was today sentenced to 15 years in his absence, having absconded prior to the start of the November hearing.
The court was told efforts to locate him and bring him into custody are ongoing.
NCA investigators unravelled the drugs conspiracy after a fist-sized bag of cocaine and an EncroChat handset were seized from ex-footballer Paul Shepherd’s car April 2020.
His house was searched and officers discovered a Glock pistol, a bolt-action sniper rifle and 213 rounds of ammunition.
He was sentenced to more than nine years’ imprisonment, in 2023.
EncroChat data showed that O’Flaherty directed Shepherd to store the firearms at his address and move the cocaine found in his car.
Further expert analysis uncovered the crime group’s business model.
While the amphetamine was produced by “chefs” Stanislawczuk and Brierley on-site at properties in Leeds and Bradford, high purity cocaine was purchased three kilos at a time, for £123,000.
It would then be diluted with cheap chemicals and resold as four kilos for £150,000 to dealers one step down the supply chain, such as Hall.
(Image: National Crime Agency (NCA)) NCA Operations Manager Nigel Coles said: “Our complex and extensive investigation has brought down every member of this dangerous criminal network, from the mastermind behind the conspiracy to couriers transporting both firearms and drugs across the north of England.
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“Lengthy custodial sentences have been given to all the ten members of this organised crime group and the investigation has stopped significant quantities of harmful drugs reaching our communities, together with the seizure of deadly firearms.
“At the NCA we are committed to our mission of protecting the public from serious and organised crime, and in dismantling this network we have made our communities a safer place to live.”
Ten of those involved in the conspiracy have now been jailed for a total of 118 years following today’s sentencing hearing conducted by Judge Rob Mairs, who presided over the November trial.