EncroChat: Lancashire drug dealer caught in Amsterdam jailed

Lancashire Police say Ashurst "mistakenly thought he could traffic drugs with impunity"

A drugs baron who fled to Spain and Mexico before being arrested in Amsterdam has been jailed.

Christopher Ashurst, 36, supplied "huge amounts" of cocaine, heroin, ketamine and cannabis, Lancashire Police said.

Ashurst, of Blackburn, who spent three years on the run, was caught by detectives hacking into an encrypted global messaging service used by gangs, EncroChat.

He was jailed for 10 years at Preston Crown Court.

Lancashire Constabulary said Ashurst was identified as part of Operation Venetic, a national investigation into organised crime following the cracking of EncroChat.

The EncroChat servers were taken down in 2020 following an investigation led by the National Crime Agency.

'Under the radar'

Ashurst moved to Spain and then Mexico before he was arrested in Amsterdam and returned to the UK.

He was convicted on four counts of being concerned in the supply of heroin, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis.

Det Sgt Stu Peall, of Lancashire Police, said: "Like many others who tried to hide behind EncroChat Ashurst mistakenly thought he could traffic drugs with impunity, under the radar of the police, but how wrong he was.

"Even after he fled the country, we remained determined to find him and bring him back to the UK to face justice.

"I hope this sentence sends a clear message to the public of our determination to rid communities of this sort of criminalisation and to make our streets safer."

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