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A senior member of an organised crime group that ran an amphetamine lab in Scotland has been jailed for 13 years.<\/p>\n
Colin Wright, 38, fled to Murcia in Spain to avoid capture after his fellow gang members were caught in National Crime Agency (NCA) operation in March 2021.<\/p>\n
Wright, formerly from Motherwell, was the leader of the group’s Scottish arm and was actively involved in trafficking heroin and cocaine.<\/p>\n
He is the final member of the gang to be jailed, with six others already in prison.<\/p>\n
Wright worked alongside Terence Earle, 50, who was jailed for over 16 years<\/a> and his cousin Stephen Earle, 52, who was sentenced for 11 years and four months<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n He used the encrypted phone network EncroChat using the handle “Jack Nicklaus” to source drugs, assess supply routes and find customers.<\/p>\n The NCA investigation formed part of Operation Venetic, the UK-led response to the takedown of the EncroChat service in July 2020.<\/p>\n Wright pleaded guilty to five drug charges at Liverpool Crown Court last month.<\/p>\n He created an amphetamine lab in Motherwell in March 2020 during the first Covid lockdown. It was capable of producing 1,000kg of amphetamine.<\/p>\n He also helped ship at least 20kgs of cocaine and 10kg of heroin between Motherwell and Merseyside.<\/p>\n NCA Branch Commander Cat McHugh said: “Wright’s case shows that criminals who seek refuge abroad are never immune from law enforcement’s reach.<\/p>\n “His sentencing means that we have completely dismantled this organised crime group, who posed a grave danger to communities in Scotland and Merseyside, with the drugs they trafficked helping to fuel violence and exploitation.”<\/p>\n