Dealers used a former Leeds defender Paul Shepherd as armourer

Four cocaine dealers who used a former Leeds defender as their armourer have been jailed for a total of over 50 years. From 2019 to late 2020, the gang bought large quantities of cocaine and the chemicals to make amphetamines. They were busted in Operation Venetic, the NCA-led UK response to the infiltration and takedown of encrypted communications platform EncroChat. A bag of cocaine and an EncroChat handset were seized from ex-footballer Paul Shepherd’s car April 2020. At the 45-year-old’s…