Ex-footballer ran global drugs and guns network

Wayne McKenzie went from professional football to high level drug dealing

A former professional footballer who ran an international drugs and guns network has been jailed.

Wayne McKenzie, 48, and his brother, Craig McKenzie, 41, supplied dealers in the UK with cocaine and cannabis sourced in the Netherlands, Spain and the United States.

They were caught after the EncroChat phone network was hacked in 2020.

McKenzie received a 30-year prison term at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday after being convicted of six offences.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said McKenzie, formerly of Beckenham Avenue in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, was connected to the supply of Class A and B drugs worth a total of more than £2m at street value, between March and June 2020.

McKenzie once spent time playing professional football in Scandinavia, the NCA said, but later turned to high level drugs supply.

Most of the drugs he imported were sent to criminal buyers in Liverpool and Manchester, but he also supplied dealers in Wales and London.

Designer goods bought with the profits of the drug trade by Wayne McKenzie

The EncroChat platform, used almost exclusively by organised criminals, was hacked by the French police in 2020, who shared the evidence with law enforcement agencies throughout Europe.

McKenzie was identified as the user of the EncroChat handles "LittleOrchid" and "RadiantAcid", which had been involved in "extensive" discussions about the importation of drugs and firearms.

In one conversation, about smuggling a gun to the UK hidden in chemical waste, McKenzie said the last firearm he imported was sold "straight to kids in London".

In another, McKenzie said he was in contact with a trawler who could help import cannabis to the UK.

Officers found McKenzie also had contact with other "notorious criminals" based in Spain in order to launder the profit from their crimes.

McKenzie was arrested by the NCA in February 2022.

'Misery and destitution'

During a search of his home, officers found a number of concealed mobile phones and a "burner" phone, pairs of designer trainers, and documentation relating to a business used for money laundering.

McKenzie was charged and recalled to prison as he was already on licence after being jailed for drug supply offences in 2015.

He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis and money laundering at a previous hearing.

On Monday he was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to import firearms, conspiracy to import cannabis, being concerned in the supply of cocaine and participating in an organised crime group, following a two week trial.

Judge Andrew Menary, KC, sentencing, said McKenzie's offending "brought misery and destitution to local communities".

His brother Craig, 41, was jailed for 20 years in October last year for drugs supply offences.

NCA operations manager, Dean Wallbank, said: "Wayne McKenzie was prolific in trafficking both drugs and firearms, selling them onto gangs and laundering the profits through notorious criminals without concern.

"Our investigation has dismantled this family crime group, which brought harm to the streets of the UK. Those streets are safer with him behind bars."