Dealer counts wads of cocaine money and boasts that it is ‘half a day’s work’
A dad who was a part of a £4m drug racket was caught on digital camera laughing as he counted his soiled cash boasting ‘what d’ya reckon? Half day’s work?’
Ricky Lee, 31, Christopher Gresty, 56, and his son Louis Gresty, 25, from Salford, have been jailed for dealing medicine in Manchester, Liverpool and Coventry throughout the first coronavirus lockdown.
In a video seized by police, Lee is seen counting a pile of money and joking: “What d’you reckon that is? Half a day’s work!?” The trio’s operation was busted by Greater Manchester Police as a part of Operation Venetic, which used information hacked from EncroChat’s servers in northern France in April 2020.
READ MORE: Baboons on the free in Gaza after animals are launched from bomb-damaged zoo
Get the most recent information on the Daily Star homepage
Christopher Gresty, a key participant within the drug operation, saved medicine, debt lists, scales, and luggage at his flat in Eccles. His son, Louis, was the street-level vendor, accepting funds for cocaine and hashish through financial institution switch, the MEN reviews.
(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
Police raided their properties in May 2021 and January 2022, uncovering proof of a worthwhile drug gross sales community. Despite this, the audacious trio continued to provide prospects in Salford and Tyldesley till their arrest in September 2022.
When police searched Lee’s home on Eccles Road in Swinton, they discovered £25,000 in money hidden across the property. Lee claimed the cash got here from his canine breeding enterprise, which he used as a canopy for his felony actions throughout the first nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
At Christopher Gresty’s flat, police found practically £25,000 in money, cocaine, scales, luggage, and handwritten debt lists. At Louis Gresty’s home, they caught him attempting to flush luggage of cocaine down the bathroom.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
During the trial, it was revealed that the accused hadn’t taken a break day from dealing cocaine in 40 weeks. The courtroom heard that he had equipped over 5kg of the drug for about £343,000.
In simply 9 weeks, the gang moved a whopping 43.5 kilograms of cocaine and 11.5 kilograms of hashish with a avenue worth of over £4m.
The EncroChat servers hack uncovered Lee’s plan to make use of his canine breeding enterprise as a canopy for his unlawful actions throughout lockdown.
Lee was discovered to be splashing his drug cash on non-public IVF therapy together with his accomplice, with police tracing over £10,000 spent at one clinic.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
However, Lee claimed to have spent a whopping £86,000 over two years on the therapy.
The pair have been additionally concerned in a rip-off to tear off different sellers by diluting their cocaine with different substances. Christopher Gresty shelled out practically £1,000 for a hydraulic press to re-press the tampered cocaine again into blocks.
Lee, from Swinton, was sentenced to 14 years behind bars after admitting to conspiracy to provide cocaine, hashish and cash laundering.
Christopher Gresty, additionally from Eccles, obtained an eleven-year sentence for a similar offences. Louis Gresty, of Salford, was handed a three-year sentence.
* This article was crafted with the assistance of an AI software, which hurries up Daily Star’s editorial analysis. An editor reviewed this content material earlier than it was revealed. You can report any errors to [email protected]
