Manchester 'Teflon' drugs boss who owned £250k watch jailed

The agency said despite only declaring an income of £33,000, McKenzie wore a watch worth about £250,000

A drugs boss who named a cover business Teflon Holdings "as he believed none of his crimes would stick to him" has been jailed.

Craig McKenzie, from Manchester, ran a global network worth almost £6m, using dodgy firms to hide his criminal activities, the National Crime Agency said.

Officers said "arrogant" McKenzie thought he was "untouchable".

He was jailed for 20 years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

The crime agency said McKenzie, of Parkside Road in Fallowfield, "enjoyed a flashy lifestyle" which he tried to show he had earned through his property business.

It said despite only have a declared income of about £33,000 in 2021, he wore a Richard Mille watch worth about £250,000 and drove two new cars, a BMW X5 and a VW Tiguan R-Line.

The agency said McKenzie's operation used runners to move drugs to customers as far afield as Wales and London

An agency representative said when officers raided McKenzie's house, they found designer goods and clothing worth about £128,000 and £33,000 in cash.

They said McKenzie's operation used runners to move heroin, cocaine and cannabis to customers as far afield as Wales and London.

Evidence gathered also suggested he sent money from the sales to "notorious offenders" in Spain and the United Arab Emirates "through money laundering channels".

McKenzie was arrested in February 2022 after being identified by Operation Venetic, a national investigation into organised crime which followed the cracking of EncroChat, an encrypted global messaging service used by gangs.

Investigators waded through more than 11,000 messages sent by McKenzie and his conspirators between March and June 2020.

The representative said they showed McKenzie had "established close ties with prolific, wanted, international criminals and these relationships bought him access to other criminal conspiracies unfolding in the UK and overseas".

At the court, McKenzie was convicted of conspiring to supply 99lb (45kg) of cocaine, 30lb (14kg) of heroin and 198lb (90kg) of cannabis with an estimated street value of almost £6m.

The agency said McKenzie also laundered approximately £400,000 during the three-month period in 2020.

It said Proceeds of Crimes proceedings had begun against him and assets worth £1.5m had been "restrained" ahead of a hearing on 15 March 2024.

The representative added that McKenzie had "18 separate convictions from 26 offences starting in 1996 when he was convicted of robbery at 13".

Speaking after sentencing, senior investigating officer Dean Wallbank said a "commercial-scale drugs boss who had international criminal contacts and who used his business as cover".

"McKenzie was under the belief he was untouchable and was arrogant to the point that he called one of his cover businesses Teflon Holdings as he believed none of his crimes would stick to him," he said.

He added that the conviction was down to Operation Venetic, which had allowed the agency to investigate offenders "who had previously gone under the radar".

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