Five men today denied being part of a money laundering plot linked to the use of the now collapsed criminal Encrochat phone network.
The suspects were allegedly part of a conspiracy which involved very large sums of money transferred which was connected to ongoing criminality.
This morning, Timmy Donovan, Christopher Roper, Arran O’Sullivan, Paul Duncan and Kenneth Kean - all from Liverpool - appeared at Manchester Crown Court.
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Each man pleaded not guilty to a single count of money laundering and a trial is scheduled to take place in early 2022.
The arrests followed a raid by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) at Wavertree Car Centre in June, last year.
During the warrant, officers could be seen inspecting cars parked on the forecourt.
Witnesses described officers carrying bags of items out of the centre into NCA vehicles and it was later confirmed that £300,000 in cash had been seized.
This morning, Donovan, 36, formerly of Walsingham Road, Childwall, appeared on video-link, from prison.
His four co-accused attended the Manchester court in person - Roper, 37, of Allerton Road, O'Sullivan, 38, of Deepfield Drive, Huyton, Duncan, 52, of Gent wood Road, Huyton, and Kean, 56, of Huyton House Road, Huyton.
This prosecution is part of Operation Venetic the global take-down of the Encrochat network, which led a huge number of arrests of suspects across Europe, and a massive amount of drugs, cash, guns and other items seized by law enforcement agencies.
The focus of this case is money laundering which is alleged to have taken place between the end of 2019 and the middle of 2020 and a large number of mobile phone devices have been analysed by detectives.
Four of the arrested men were detained at their home addresses, apart from Roper who was apprehended at the Wavertree car showroom on June 15, last year.
Operation Venetic has led to more than 100 arrests on Merseyside and more than 1,550 across UK.
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