Beau Devlin, 33, and Matthew Byrne, 44, each received 17 years for drug smuggling and money laundering crimes.
The pair used nicknames on EncroChat, a special, secret messaging app. Devlin’s nickname was ‘scalpcleaner,’ while Byrne used ‘slickvalley’ and ‘officialcleaner.’ They tried to import tons of cocaine between March and June 2020, planning to use ports in Europe and the UK.
Detectives read their secret messages and found discussion of past smuggling, involving five to ten tons of cocaine spanning about eight years. Devlin and Byrne also talked about criminal contacts, including a gun dealer and South American cocaine suppliers.
They hid cocaine in banana shipments and created fake companies to look innocent. Byrne told Devlin to burn bad bananas that they couldn’t sell honestly. These fake banana tests cost £300,000.
They discussed hiding drugs in special cars, and Byrne knew someone called ‘the plugboss’ who built these modified cars. Byrne knew lots of criminals and discussed paying lorry drivers £50,000 each for smuggling 250 kilos of cocaine, but he wouldn’t pay for their fuel.
He also traded illegal weapons, planning to buy Mac 11 submachine guns. One contact, Jody Hall, was jailed in 2020 and got twelve years behind bars. Byrne and Devlin once paid £3 million for 600 kilos of cocaine, hoping to sell it for more money in the UK.
They laundered money via Chris O’Shea, who owned a jewelry shop in Hatton Garden and used the name ‘allstargin’ on EncroChat. They gave O’Shea drug money in exchange for clean money, gold, and designer watches. Byrne bought gold for himself and others, with some bars costing £40,000 each.
Devlin moved money and gold to O’Shea, wanting £100,000 in new £20 notes, for which O’Shea would get a three percent fee. O’Shea, 56, also pleaded guilty, admitting money laundering and drug crimes. He got eleven years in prison last year.
Police arrested Devlin and Byrne in 2020, finding £20,000 at Byrne’s home, along with bank details and a Jaguar. He was also building a new house. They found designer clothes at Byrne’s girlfriend’s place, as well as villa details for Portugal.
Police found a taser at Devlin’s parents’ house. At Devlin’s house, they found CS spray, a bug detector, designer items, and £5,000. Andrew Tickner spoke about the case, explaining that Byrne and Devlin led a big criminal group, bringing lots of cocaine into the UK and using gold and watches to wash profits.
They tried to trick police by using fake banana shipments. Tickner added that Byrne’s guns would have helped criminals and could have caused violence.