Ex-footballer jailed for 30 years over £2million drug and weapons empire
An ex-footballer has been jailed for 30 years after heading a huge £2million international drugs and weapons gang.
Wayne McKenzie, 48, was thrown behind bars for bringing cocaine and cannabis into Britain from the Netherlands, Spain and the US.
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Together with his brother Craig McKenzie, 41, the 48-year-old managed to supply British dealers with Class A and B drugs worth more than £2 million at street value over a four-month period.
The men were shot in 2022 after police hacked the EncroChat phone network the pair had used to obtain and sell the drugs.
McKenzie, who played professional football in Scandinavia, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday charged with six offences.
A jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to three decades in prison.
BBC reported that the National Crime Agency (NCA) found that McKenzie and his brother were involved in the supply of drugs worth a total of more than £2 million between March and June 2020.
Most of the drugs the ex-footballer imported went to dealers in Liverpool and Manchester, but he also supplied to Wales and London.
He was caught when French police hacked the EncroChat platform – which is used almost exclusively by criminals – in 2020.
The force then passed on evidence to police across Europe.
McKenzie was also found to have been involved in “extensive” discussions about bringing firearms into the country.
In one conversation he boasted about smuggling a weapon hidden in chemical waste into Britain. He said the firearm went “directly to children in London”.
In another case, McKenzie was talking to a trawler who could help bring cannabis to Britain.
He also had contact with 'notorious criminals' in Spain, which allowed him to launder the profits.
When police raided McKenzie's home, they found a pile of hidden phones and a “burner” phone, a pair of expensive designer sneakers and paperwork related to a company used for money laundering.
And it wasn't the first time the 48-year-old was caught: he was imprisoned in 2015 for drug trafficking.
McKenzie had pleaded guilty in an earlier appearance to concerns over the supply of cannabis and money laundering.
On Monday, after a two-week trial, a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to import firearms, conspiracy to import cannabis, concern over the supply of cocaine and participation in an organized crime group.
Judge Andrew Menary QC said yesterday that McKenzie's offending “brought misery and poverty to local communities”.
His brother Craig, 41, was thrown behind bars for 20 years in October after being convicted of drug trafficking offences.
NCA operations manager Dean Wallbank said: “Wayne McKenzie was prolific in smuggling both drugs and firearms, selling them to gangs and laundering the profits carelessly through notorious criminals.
“Our investigation has dismantled this family crime group which has wreaked havoc on the streets of Britain. Those streets are safer with him behind bars.”