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Flash EncroChat dealer with ‘direct influence’ over Ireland’s drug trade is jailed

Police seized designer clothing, footwear and a gold Rolex Yacht Master watch with a total value of €65k from Callum Buckley’s home

Yesterday at 13:23

A flash EncroChat dealer who had a “direct influence” on Ireland’s drugs trade has been jailed for 11 years for storing cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine in a container.

Callum Buckley (32) used the encrypted phone service to manage his drugs business and to buy cocaine during the coronavirus lockdowns

He was found guilty to storing 72g of cannabis, six vacuum sealed packages of amphetamine and 18g of cocaine with a 78 per cent purity, inside a container in Manchester.

He was identified as the owner of the EncroChat handle ‘peptalk’ by police working on the hack into the encrypted network.

The phone traffic revealed that Buckley played a leading role in an organised crime group involved the supply of Class A drugs across England and had a “direct influence” upon the supply of these drugs into Ireland.

During a search of his home, a high number of designer clothing, footwear and a gold Rolex Yacht Master watch were seized by officers, with a total value of £53,000 (€65k).

Buckley would send and receive photographs showing blocks of cocaine, which he was buying each week for £42,000 (€48k).

He also discussed the sale of heroin and cannabis valued at £11,000 (€12.7k) and £5,000 (€5.7k) respectively and at one stage he told an associate of a shipment of the drugs into Ireland worth an approximate £200,000 (€231k).

Following his conviction, Detective Constable Chris Anders, of GMP’s City of Manchester Challenger North team, said:

“Buckley was using the EncroChat device to converse with other criminals under the guise of the handle ‘Peptalk’ and alike other criminals before him, he believed that his criminality was protected by the encrypted device.

“We could see from the messages that Buckley had criminal contacts from as far as Luton, Bedfordshire in order to supply significant amounts of heroin and cocaine that was on a national scale, and that he had a direct influence upon the supply of these drugs into Ireland.

He also discussed the sale of heroin and cannabis valued at £11,000 (€12.7k) and £5,000 (€5.7k) respectively and at one stage he told an associate of a shipment of the drugs into Ireland worth an approximate £200,000 (€231k).

Following his conviction, Detective Constable Chris Anders, of GMP’s City of Manchester Challenger North team, said:

“Buckley was using the EncroChat device to converse with other criminals under the guise of the handle ‘Peptalk’ and alike other criminals before him, he believed that his criminality was protected by the encrypted device.

“We could see from the messages that Buckley had criminal contacts from as far as Luton, Bedfordshire in order to supply significant amounts of heroin and cocaine that was on a national scale, and that he had a direct influence upon the supply of these drugs into Ireland.”

A search of his home in September 2022 uncovered the designer gear worth more than £53,000.

Interviewed again, he stayed silent – for two-and-a-half hours. Ms Lavin said the EncroChat records ‘do not reflect the sum total of this defendant’s drug dealing’.

“They are merely a snapshot of it,” she added. “It gives a snapshot as to the extent of this defendant’s drug dealing and his role.”

Mitigating, David Morton KC said: “Mr Buckley has a daughter with his partner who is two-years-old. He hasn’t seen her for half her life already. I ask the court to reflect on the good work he clearly has done.

“He has entered brave and realistic pleas. He has never been to prison before and this is has been quite an ordeal for him. He is bright, articulate and cooperative and this will be a devastating sentence in any view.”

He was sentenced at Manchester City Crown Court on Wednesday 27 September 2023 to 11 years in prison.