Drugs ring criminal 'Swampmaster' jailed for 13 years over huge heroin supply operation

Dean Smith, 27, of Seymour Drive, worked alongside Dean Anderson to distribute multi-kilos of heroin, cocaine and cannabis.

Last month 46-year-old Anderson, of Tudorville Road in Higher Bebington, Wirral and the owner of ‘Bromborough Skip Hire’ at that time, was jailed for 14 years and four months for his part in the drugs ring.

An EncroChat message sent between Dean Smith and co-defendant Dean Anderson of £112,000.

EncroChat was a Europe-based communications network and service provider that offered modified smartphones allowing encrypted communication among subscribers. It was used primarily by organised crime members to plan criminal activities until police infiltrated the network in 2020 during a Europe-wide investigation.

Chester Crown Court heard on Friday, September 30 that Smith used the Encrochat handle ‘Swampmaster’ and was the direct supplier to drug gang members Mark Cavanagh and Michael Hailwood.

Cavanagh, 32, previously of Foxdene in Ellesmere Port, was one of the big names in Operation Olympia, a 10-month investigation by the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, that led to his organised crime gang being dismantled and he was jailed for 14 years in September 2020. He co-ordinated a number of drug suppliers as they dealt class A drugs in Chester and Ellesmere Port.

Alongside Anderson, and independently, Smith was found to have distributed 8kg of heroin, 19kg of cocaine and 30kg of cannabis nationally and into Scotland.

An EncroChat message sent between Dean Smith and co-defendant Dean Anderson of cocaine.

He was also in direct contact with individuals in the Colombia region, trying to import 100kg of cocaine into the United Kingdom.

Smith was arrested in possession of his EncroChat mobile phone which was found smashed up in his van after international law enforcement had intercepted the network.

A bag full of cash and kilos of cannabis were also recovered.

Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs and was jailed at Chester Crown as part of Cheshire Constabulary's Operation Olympia, run by the Serious and Organised Crime Unit.

Judge Steven Everett told Smith he was involved in the commercial supply of class A drugs on a ‘huge scale’ and that he was close to the top of the drug supply business, had contacts close to the source of drug supply and was in it purely for financial gain.