11:54 am, March 20, 2023
A car dealership boss has been jailed for almost 20 years after he was revealed as the ringleader of a major drug operation.
Richard Weild, 39, used the Gas Works Motor Company in Liverpool to allow him to masquerade under the guise of a legitimate businessman.
However, in reality he was a criminal mastermind specialising in adulterating cocaine for organised crime groups across the country.
It is believed he made well over £1m from around June 2019 to his arrest date in November 2021, when 13 cars were seized from the dealership.
His crimes were initially uncovered when police infiltrated EncroChat – a messaging service used by criminals to communicate without detection.
Messages revealed that car dealer Weild adulterated at least 62 kilos of cocaine for organised criminal gangs in one four month period.
He charged £1,500 per kilo for his services and boasted of making £30,000 a week.
The messages also proved he had supplied at least 14.75 kilos of cocaine, two kilos of heroin and 41.5 kilos of cannabis to his own customers in the same four month window.
Furthermore, it was revealed he had directed couriers to transport at least £800,000 in cash to UK locations during the same period.
EncroChat was dismantled in 2020, with the National Crime Agency (NCA) launching Operation Venetic – the UK law enforcement response.
Richard Weild (National Crime Agency)
NCA senior manager Mick Maloney said: ‘Richard Weild was well-connected and viewed by organised criminal groups as a real asset.
‘He made vast amounts of money by happily playing a role in an illegal trade that kills people and destroys lives and communities.
‘He is going to spend a long time in prison, a world away from his flashy lifestyle and the expensive goods he bought from the proceeds of crime.’
Weild initially pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin, MDMA, 2-CB, cannabis and transferring criminal property at Liverpool Crown Court in January of last year.
However, he has only now been sentenced after he sacked several defence barristers, who had been appointed to look after his case.
A drugs boss who boasted he could make £30,000 a week adulterating cocaine for nationwide organised crime groups has been jailed for 19 years and six months.
FULL STORY ⬇️ https://t.co/nf6ChFcGrn pic.twitter.com/RkL139VAKc
— National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) March 17, 2023
Judge David Aubrey KC said Weild ran a ‘highly sophisticated serious organised crime group’, and was ‘leading the good life at the expense of others’ with his ‘trade of misery and destruction’.
He was sentenced to 19-and-a-half years behind bars.
Another man – John Morris – admitted to being employed by Weild and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, MDMA, 2-CB and possession with intent to supply cannabis. He was jailed for ten years.
Main picture: Liverpool Crown Court (PA Images)
