‘I’ll chin you for those who f*** us about’ warned ‘BigSh*gger’ in £5million smuggling plot
A man who adopted the pseudonym ‘BigSh*gger’ appeared in court after he smuggled several illegal cigarettes into the UK craftily hidden in a shipment full of pasta
An EncroChat user who smuggled illegal cigarettes into the UK hidden inside a shipment of pasta warned a customer “I’ll chin you and shoot your boss if you f*** us about”.
Andrew Brennan illegally sourced more than £5million of illicit tobacco products, including “very good copies” of Mayfair and Chesterfield cigarettes from Greece and Belgium. He used the Europe-based communications network and service provider as a chat application to acquire his products. The criminal adopted the chat name “Big Sh**ger”.
He worked alongside brothers Peter and Paul Wilson on an encrypted communications platform, who themselves were involved in plots to traffic millions of pounds of drugs and cigarettes.
The former sought to smuggle cocaine into the UK from the Netherlands, with his wife now saying that her husband has “let her down again” as he faces the prospect of another lengthy spell in prison.
Liverpool Crown Court heard this week that Brennan was involved in the trafficking of £5,203,993 of illegal cigarettes and £187,000 of cocaine while utilising the handle “Special Mask”. Peter Wilson, who went by the pseudonym “Lesser Park”, was meanwhile involved in discussions regarding £1,200,753.82 of tobacco products, £675,000 of cocaine and £7,000 of amphetamine, with Paul Wilson, the user of the account “Big Sh**ger”, being connected to the supply of £2,721,729.35 of cigarettes, £375,000 of cocaine and 1,000 ecstasy tablets.
Megan Cox, prosecuting, described how the three men sourced their goods “from a variety of countries” before the network was infiltrated by French police in 2020. Brennan and Paul Wilson were shown discussing a lorryload of imported cigarettes on March 28 that year, with 20 pallets of the illegal product having been hidden among a shipment of pasta.
The former went on to “provide an insight” into where he was sourcing the tobacco from on April 7, stating that Mayfair cigarettes he had smuggled in from Greece and Chesterfields from Belgium were “both very good copies”. He went on to plot the production of his own counterfeit products by purchasing fake packaging from China and smuggling the required machinery into the country inside a consignment of scrap metal.
Brennan meanwhile discussed issues regarding an arranged sale with “Sunny Buck”, telling him: “He’s a big dumb c***, just a Joey. Told him straight, I’ll chin you and shoot your boss if you f*** us about. He’s blaming the middleman.”
Peter Wilson meanwhile spoke of importing cocaine from the Netherlands in his messages, documenting warehouses within the city which had been lined up to store these drugs and previous “dummy runs”. His communications also showed that the 46-year-old, Paul Wilson and two other men, known only as “Danny” and “T”, had been due to receive a 10kg load of cocaine and planned to split the proceeds evenly between them.
The 46-year-old meanwhile sent a picture of blocks of the class A drug to the handle “Lightning Fork” on April 30, offering them for sale for £38,000 per kilo and labelling them “proper belters” and “f****** stink unreal”. The younger sibling was meanwhile promised a load of “very good pills” of ecstasy from the user “Flying Horse”, having arranged for samples to be provided and “reached an agreement with a third party to take 1,000 of the tabs”.
Brennan was ultimately detained by police on March 13 last year on Bank Hall Street in Kirkdale, with Peter Wilson being held at his home address on Alderwood Court in Widnes the same day. Paul Wilson was meanwhile arrested days later in HMP Risley in Warrington, where he was a serving prisoner.
Peter Wilson’s criminal record shows four convictions for four offences, including conspiracy to supply class A drugs in 1997 and conspiracy to fraudulent evade the prohibition on the importation of drugs in 2003. Ian Whitehurst, defending, told the court: “There are a variety of character references on behalf of this defendant, which show a different side to this defendant.
“This is a gentleman who was a hard-working individual who was employed for many years and let go through no fault of his own, through the economic recession which affected the company.
“He is engaged with his local community and shows a very deep and caring understanding of animals and animal charities. In effect, it is a different side to this defendant which has developed since his last conviction some years ago.
“He has been on remand for just over a year and, in that time, he has engaged in a positive way in the prison estate. His family have attended today, both his wife and his son. They are devoted to this defendant, even though he, to quote his wife, has let her down again. He is to blame. That guilt hangs heavy with this defendant.”
Brennan admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and fraudulently evading the prohibition on tobacco. Appearing via video link to HMP Altcourse, he was jailed for eight years on Tuesday.
Peter Wilson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of cocaine, conspiracy to supply cocaine and amphetamine and fraudulently evading the prohibition on tobacco. Also appearing remotely from HMP Liverpool, he was handed 10 years and eight months.
Paul Wilson admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy and fraudulently evaded the prohibition on tobacco. Similarly appearing on the video link from Walton prison, he received nine years.
Sentencing, Judge Charlotte Crangle said: “You all made a deliberate choice to become involved in serious criminality at a high level. All three of you have admitted trading in misery, driven only be greed.
“Drugs wreck lives and destroy families. You cared not for any of this. Those who trade in such misery for profit must be expected to be significantly punished by the courts.”
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