Two “slick and professional” drug dealers who hid cash and cocaine in an old quarry have been jailed.
David Cairns, 47, and Gary Mitchell, 48, were caught after law enforcement in France cracked the EncroChat network, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Over the three-month period monitored by police, the two men from County Durham arranged the purchase of 23kg of cocaine with the drugs and money stored in a former quarry fitted out with security cameras near Haswell.
Both denied being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs but were found guilty by jurors. Cairns, who had been jailed twice before for dealing cocaine, was jailed for 22 years and Mitchell for 18.
The two men played leading roles in the “well-run, slick and professional operation” during the first coronavirus lockdown, Judge Edward Bindloss said.
He said messages hacked by police showed “good relationships with suppliers and customers” and the men were part of a “trusted group of people”.
The timeframe between April and June 2020 was just a “snapshot” of their activities, the judge said, during which they arranged multiple deals and negotiated prices for a total of 23kg of cocaine.
‘Buried underground’
Cairns, of Salters Lane in Shotton Colliery, and Mitchell, of George Street in Haswell, operated as wholesalers and under the respective EncroChat usernames of Tractor Driver and Military Farmer, the judge said.
He said drugs, money and other paraphernalia were “buried underground” at Tuthill Quarry, with hidden cameras installed by the gang to monitor the set up.
Cairns had taken a picture of about £180,000 in cash on the floor at his home and the cocaine was likely to be of 90% purity, Judge Bindloss said.
He said “large profits” were expected to be made by the gang with the operation running on a “commercial scale”.
The court heard Cairns had been jailed for eight years in 2004 for dealing drugs, which included the use of the old quarry, and another 10 years in 2010 for supplying cocaine.
