Bodybuilders face jail after EncroChat bust

A couple caught dealing in cocaine and cannabis after police smashed the messaging network EncroChat are facing jail.

Levi Blades, 31, and his body building partner Elleyse Roberston, 27, were arrested last year during a massive crackdown on the secretive app used by criminals across Europe.

Blades, of Harlequin Crescent, Bedford, appeared at the Old Bailey via videolink from Pentonville Prison to admit conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis on or before July 27 last year.

Robertson, of the same address, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis when she appeared in court via videolink from her home.

Blades denied participation in the activities of an organised crime group and possession of criminal property and the prosecution offered no evidence in relation to those charges.

Judge Rebecca Trowler, QC, said Robertson was of previous good character and played a ‘lesser role’ in the conspiracies as she adjourned sentence until February 7.

The judge warned the couple that the fact she was ordering pre-sentence reports was no indication of what the likely outcome would be.

She said Judge Anthony Leonard would sentence them as he jailed three crime lords for a total of 34 years in a linked case last month.

Leo Gray, 29, Mohammed Sabek, 35, and Constantin Metodiev, 29, bought and supplied, via EncroChat, vast amounts of drugs, including cocaine and amphetamines, across the UK.

Personal trainer Philemon Ghezzehey, 35, and Caspar Wilson St-James, 26, also helped distribute the drugs.

Gray, who used the handle ‘Kings.dont.retire’ on the illicit Encrochat encrypted messaging app, sold huge quantities of Xanax pills, the psychedelic drug 2CB, MDMA, amphetamine, ketamine, mephodrone, xanax, pregablin, valium and diazepam.

Fitness coach Sabek was said to go by the username ‘French’.

Metodiev hatched a plot to shoot a rival, but the plan was foiled when NCA officers caught Sabek and Gray purchasing a handgun and ammunition, the Old Bailey heard.

Fitness coach Sabek was said to go by the username ‘French’.

Metodiev hatched a plot to shoot a rival, but the plan was foiled when NCA officers caught Sabek and Gray purchasing a handgun and ammunition, the Old Bailey heard.

But the gangsters were arrested during the summer last year as part of Operation Venetic, a UK-wide investigation of criminal activity on the encrypted messaging service Encrochat.

The messaging app could only be accessed if you used a custom-made €1000 EncroChat phone with a €1500 six-month contract.

But using a ‘panic button’ PIN would allow the user to wipe all of its data.

EncroChat became a standard messaging platform for organised crime, where criminals made about massive drug deals, laundered money, and discussed extortion, kidnapping and assassinations.

A joint operation between the NCA, the French National Gendarmerie and Dutch police infiltrated the network in April 2020 after placing malware on French EncroChat servers, so officers could read any message sent through those servers.

French police could also record and change criminal’s phone passwords to prevent them wiping their phone data before their arrest.

Users of the illicit messaging service switched their phones on 13 June 2020 to see this message from the company: ‘Today we had our domain seized illegally by government entities(s)… Due to the level of sophistication of the attack and the malware code, we can no longer guarantee the security of your device.’

The message then told users to immediately turn off and get rid of their phones.

Gray, Metodiev, Sabek, Wilson St-James, and Ghezzehey, of Scotts Road, Hammersmith, London, all admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs, class B drugs, and class C drugs.

Gray, of Bridgwater Drive, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, and Metodiev, of Long Lane, Southwark, admitted conspiracy to commit GBH.

Sabek, of Clement Atlee Court, Hammersmith, and Gray admitted conspiracy with a firearm to endanger life.

Wilson St-James, of Agar Grove, Camden, and Gray admitted possession of criminal property.

Wilson St-James also admitted possession of a false ID document, namely a false passport.

The charges dated between April and June last year.

Gray was jailed for a total of 18 years while Sadek was locked up for 10 years and three months. Metodiev was jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Ghezzehey and Caspar Wilson St-James will be sentenced later