He knew the game was over, so he tried to flee to Malaga, but it didn’t go according to plan

An EncroChat drug dealer operating the handle ‘StableWorld’ was arrested at Liverpool John Lennon Airport trying to board a flight to Malaga with £8,000 in cash.

Gary Cain, 45, was arrested at the airport on July 12, 2023, trying to travel to the Spanish city under a false name. Holly Menary told Liverpool Crown Court this morning, Wednesday June 19, that Cain’s role in an EncroChat conspiracy was uncovered as part of Merseyside Police’s response to Operation Venetic – an international operation targeting criminals using the messaging platform encrypted.

Cain, who was credited with using the ‘StableWorld’ encrypted phone, was arrested with £8,000 in cash, €200 and an expensive Rolex watch. This was despite Cain, formerly of Bold Street in Liverpool city centre, claiming in 2020 that he was struggling for money and had to borrow people to help buy a car. Analysis of the EncroChat handle, made available following the April 2020 network breach, showed that Cain was concerned about the supply of cocaine on several dates, including April 4, 8 and 26.

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He was also involved in the supply of heroin on April 25 and 27 and several kilograms of amphetamine, including under the EncroChat handle ‘RoyalCleaner’, who was unmasked as Philip Glennon earlier this year. After his arrest last July, Cain was interviewed and made no comment to all questions.

However, detectives were able to uncover a number of links between Cain and the “StableWorld” handle. These included how other handles had saved “StableWorld” in their own phones as “Gary Cain” and “GC” and that the password for his device was his own son’s full name.

The court heard that the EncroChat hack allowed investigators a “snapshot” of the conspiracy that spanned six weeks in 2020. Cain was described as playing a significant role in the conspiracy, often acting as a middleman and taking a cut of the profits. Cain had a previous drug conviction in 1997 and was most recently before the courts in 2014, where he was sentenced to 42 months for robbery.

He entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin at a plea and trial preparation hearing and to supply amphetamines at another case management hearing. A trial later determined that Cain supplied 7.5 kg of cocaine, 0.5 kg of heroin and 48 kg of amphetamine.

Briefly, Julian Nutter, defending, told the court that some EncroChat cases heard involved “metric tonnes” of drugs, while his client was involved in a relatively small conspiracy in comparison. Mr Nutter said his client was “a small, not a big crook” and called for the inevitable immediate custodial sentence to be justified.

Sentencing, Judge Charlotte Crangle said Cain “traded on desperation and poverty because of his own greed”. She said: “Drugs wreak havoc and destroy lives and lead drug addicts to turn to crime to feed their addictions.” Judge Crangle told Cain that his role in the wider drug conspiracy came as a result of him “trying to set up a round of drug dealing that you had previously done”.

Judge Crangle told Cain: “You thought you were invincible holding an EncroChat phone thinking you were safe and sound. Allowing credit for his guilty pleas and taking into account the impact his sentence will have on his family – despite adding that Cain had chosen his criminal lifestyle – Judge Crangle sentenced him to 10 years and six months of prison. Cain, who appeared via video link wearing an Under Armor technical jersey, did not react when he learned his fate.

Merseyside Police Detective Inspector Peter McCullough said: “Cain, like many criminals before him, believed he could avoid detection by using encrypted devices. But thanks to these networks being compromised and some useful information provided by Cain himself, he will now serve a long time. prison sentence.

“We are working tirelessly to prevent criminals from targeting vulnerable people in our communities with illicit drugs. The key to this may be information from those communities who feel the worst and I would encourage members of the public to contact us if they have information that could help.”

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