Man sentenced to 11 years in prison for storing £81,000 of Class A and Class B drugs at a container yard in Manchester

Yesterday (Wednesday 27 September 2023), Callum Buckley (28/06/1990) of Weybridge Avenue was sentenced to 11 years in prison for drug offences.

Buckley was found guilty to having stored 72g of cannabis, six vacuum sealed packages of amphetamine and 18g of cocaine with a 78 per cent purity, inside a container in Manchester.

Boxes located inside the container were addressed to his family’s property in Miles Platting and his name was found on the rental agreement, when it was raided by police on Saturday 20 February 2021.

While the investigation was underway, the 32-year-old was identified by detectives as being the owner of the EncroChat handle ‘peptalk’ as part of Operation Venetic – the UK’s response to disrupt the highly sophisticated communication system used predominantly by organised criminal networks.

From reviewing the phone, police uncovered the extent of Buckley’s crimes and his leading part in organised crime that involved the supply of Class A drugs to associates from as far as Luton in Bedfordshire and a direct influence upon the supply of these drugs into Ireland.

Buckley, referring to himself as ‘Cal’ and disclosing his home address in the messages, would send and receive photographs showing blocks of cocaine, which he was buying each week for £42,000.

He also discussed the sale of heroin and cannabis valued at £11,000 and £5,000 respectively and at one stage he told an associate of a shipment of the aforementioned drugs into Ireland worth an approximate £200,000.

Buckley was arrested on Thursday 15 September 2022 following a raid at his property.

During a search a high number of designer clothing, footwear and a gold Rolex Yacht Master watch were seized by officers, with a total value of £53,000.

Buckley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis, possession with intent to supply cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis and money laundering.

He was sentenced at Manchester City Crown Court on Wednesday 27 September 2023 to 11 years in prison.

Detective Constable Chris Anders, of GMP’s City of Manchester Challenger North team, said: “Buckley was using the EncroChat device to converse with other criminals under the guise of the handle ‘Peptalk’ and alike other criminals before him, he believed that his criminality was protected by the encrypted device.

We could see from the messages that Buckley had criminal contacts from as far as Luton, Bedfordshire in order to supply significant amounts of heroin and cocaine that was on a national scale, and that he had a direct influence upon the supply of these drugs into Ireland.

He sent messages that he was travelling once a week to buy blocks of cocaine worth £42,000, at a time when the country was in a national lockdown due to Coronavirus and families couldn’t see their loved ones.

The disruption of the EncroChat device enabled us to see first-hand the scale of Buckley’s criminality, which he was reaping the rewards of. Today’s sentencing is a clear reminder to criminals that they cannot hide behind these devices forever and that they will be prosecuted and sent to prison for a substantial amount of time."