A dad who lived a double life as a drug kingpin worked with Colombian cartels to ferry cocaine across Europe.
Thomas Maher appeared to be just another ordinary dad who happened to run a successful haulage business. He lived in a modest home on Wiltshire Close in Warrington, where flash cars including a Range Rover and a Corvette lined the driveway.
Inside the home he owned Hublot and Rolex watches valued at hundreds of thousands of pounds, artwork and a world map made from bullets. The huge wealth on show far surpassed the earnings declared by Maher, triggering a National Crime Agency investigation that would eventually expose him as a linchpin of the underworld.
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The dad-of-three secretly ferried cocaine from Holland into the UK often using the EncroChat network to conduct his illicit deals. He was jailed for 14 years and eight months in December 2020 after pleading guilty to importing class A drugs and money laundering.
Maher appeared back before Liverpool Crown Court on Monday this week where a judge ordered him to pay back £629,159.15, including his home in Warrington. The confiscation order also included cars, lorries, jewellery, a number of high value Rolex watches, artwork and gold ingots bought in Dubai. Maher has three months to pay or faces an extra six years in jail.
Maher was originally arrested after 39 dead bodies of Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a lorry in Essex in October 2019. The dad-of-three was once the owner of that HGV, which was still registered in his wife’s name even after it was sold, but he was released with no further action taken in relation to that shocking tragedy.
However, the activity linked to the investigation - including the search of his Warrington home when he was arrested - drew suspicion to him on a separate level.
That probe began in October 2019 but the crucial breakthrough came when the NCA obtained material from the hack of EncroChat network. The amount of messages from his accounts unveiled his orchestration of the collection and delivery of at least 21kg of cocaine from locations in the Netherlands.
Associates reported back to Maher as the drugs were picked up, transported and arrived at their final destination in Ireland. On April 2 an exchange took place at a garage in Lierop, in the Netherlands, where 11kg of cocaine was passed between two vehicles.
Two days later, the arrival of the drugs through Dunkirk to Dover and eventually Donabate, near Dublin, was confirmed. Messages showed that Maher had discussed splitting the profit with one of his group.
In another job, Maher made arrangements for 10kg of cocaine to be collected from an area near De Strubben in the Netherlands and again delivered to the outskirts of Dublin.
As well as drugs Maher also helped to facilitate the movement of cash. One of his charges related to arranging for 305,000 Euros to be transported from Ireland to Holland on behalf of one of his associates. In May, An Garda Síochána in Drogheda, Ireland seized a further 600,000 Euros in transit, arresting three people. Maher arranged for the movement of this cash.
While the messages helped detectives unpick his criminal activity, they also offered further insight into his contacts and the underworld tactics he utilised. A "professional facilitator", there was evidence he dealt directly with Colombian cartels as he arranged for their cocaine to be sent across Europe, usually reaching the UK via Spain or eastern Europe having initially been shipped to East Africa.
Originally from Ireland he is believed to have had connections with at least one major gang there - but is not thought to have been controlled by anyone. Yet while his messages retained some degree of code, they also proved his downfall, with pictures he sent of his wealth and home allowing detectives to match the EncroChat accounts to him.
Maher's activity funded a lifestyle that saw him linked to £70,000 spent with holiday provider Tui during four years of trips to Mexico, New York and Dubai.
Following Monday's confiscation order, the NCA’s Head of Asset Denial, Rob Burgess, said: “This significant result demonstrates the agency’s ability to recover criminal assets, and prevent criminals from benefitting from their wrongdoing.
“Thomas Maher was a career criminal who was trusted by some of Europe’s biggest crime groups to move their drugs and money.
"The confiscation order will ensure money he made will be returned to the public purse to fund further efforts to protect the public from organised crime.”
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