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Teesside taxi driver on trial with 3 others after French police intercept alleged £18k drugs ring
A Norton taxi driver is one of four men on trial after French police intercepted an alleged £18,000 heroin ring, a court was told.
The four men are accused of running a drugs racket where £18,000 of heroin was brought into Teesside during the Covid lockdown. The accused were charged with a number of drugs-related offences after French police hacked into the encrypted messaging service EncroChat - and handed data over to the National Crime Agency.
Messages found allegedly relate to a kilo of heroin being picked up in Newcastle, and taxied down to Teesside.
Robert English, 42, and Mark McKeswick, 49, are accused of running a drugs business which sold the heroin to Nico Easton, 31, and Scott Highfield, 31.
Teesside Crown Court heard that EncroChat notified customers that its system had been compromised, in 2020. The French police only got in for a short period of time but is thought that they were able to intercept messages before they were sent, and before they had been encrypted.
They were able to access hundreds of thousands of communications, some relating to alleged crimes across Europe. The prosecution say that the four men threw away their "encro phones" once they were notified the platform had been hacked.
Two trips to Newcastle
On Tuesday, Ian West, prosecuting, told the jury that Teessider taxi driver, Highfield, made two trips to Newcastle. Highfield is alleged to have sent an intercepted message on EncroChat which read: "The lad I'm sending to collect this stuff will have the device with him."
Mr West says that Easton, using the name "Dior Metal" on the encrypted platform, lent Highfield his encro phone so that he could liaise with McKeswick about collecting the kilo of heroin, once he got to Newcastle, on April 21, 2020.
Easton is also accused of trying to get hold of a gun, through alleged messages to "the Saudi" - an encro account held by English, the prosecution say.
When McKeswick was arrested in the summer of 2022, Mr West said that police found 300 grams of heroin and a press in his home - which the prosecution say was being used to press the heroin, which had been mixed with cutting agents, into blocks, ready to sell.
Charges denied
McKeswick, of Muswell Hill in Newcastle, denies conspiracy to supply class A drugs; conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life; being concerned in the production of heroin; and the possession of criminal property - which the prosecution say relates to large cash deposits in his bank account.
English, of Woodlands in Throckley, Newcastle, denies conspiracy to supply class A drugs; conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life; and the possession of criminal property - after the prosecution say £3,000 in cash and two watches, were found during a police search of his home.
Highfield, of Norton Road in Stockton, denies conspiracy to supply heroin.
Easton, now of HMP Durham, denies conspiracy to supply heroin; conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.
The court heard that Highfield admits that he made the two journeys to Newcastle in April and May of 2020 - but he says that the passenger travelling in his taxi must have been sending the messages. English denies being behind "the Saudi" account.
"The messages, I would say, are as plain as the nose on your face as to what they are talking about," Mr West told the jury. He will call witnesses to testify on Thursday.
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