A Bolton man dubbed “Vicious Swan” was ensnared in a gun and drugs plot orchestrated by a “master of his craft” crime boss with international links.
Danny Parmer, 42, was one of several criminals who’s used the notorious messaging service Encrochat to carry out his illicit deals, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
It was this that brought him into the orbit of Manchester criminal Asim Tufail, 52, who had built up huge wealth off the back of his criminal dealings.
Describing Tufail’s criminal status, prosecutor Tim Storrie KC said: “He was driving an expensive motor car, making huge cash purchases and wearing a diamond encrusted Rolex watch.”
He added: “Such were his links to other criminal enterprises that he has also acted on their behalf with regard to enforcing debts.”
Parmer, of Duddon Road, Breightmet, took up the bizarre “Vicious Swan” pseudonym when he plotted with Tufail between March and June 2020 to supply drugs and guns.
Tufail operated under the name “Assassin New” when using the platform and had conspired with the Bolton man to supply guns to a Wigan based crime gang.
Mr Storrie said: “The criminal enterprise was based in Wigan and Danny Parmer wished to supply them.”
He added: “It was said by Danny Parmer that Wigan wanted a quantity of guns.”
Parmer had asked Tufail to source and supply the guns that he then planned to supply to the Wigan gang.
As part of another plot, Parmer asked the Manchester man to supply around £40,000 worth of cocaine which he would deal across Bolton.
Messages between the pair referred to "tops and bottoms", street slang for cocaine and heroin.
Once again, the pair used the Encrochat messaging service to orchestrate the deal, a platform they turned to again when Parmer planned to supply cocaine and cannabis in April 2020.
According to Mr Storrie, he said he had “five people waiting for him” and arranged a rendezvous at a garage on Belmont Road, just outside Egerton.
But these dealings were brought to an abrupt stop by “Operation Guatemala”, a police investigation into Tufail’s activities.
Tufail and his then 19-year-old son Junnaid were arrested at the departure lounge of Manchester Airport by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unite as they waited for a flight to Dubai.
The father and son, who went by the name “Baby Assassin”, both of Kenmore Road, Northenden, were taken into custody, while Parmer was arrested at his Bolton home in February of that year.
A fourth man, 53-year-old Peter Lawlor was arrested at his home on Eton Court, Liverpool with around half a kilogram of heroin at his flat.
Parmar eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, conspiracy to supply Class B drugs and conspiracy to sell or transfer a prohibited weapon.
But the court heard how Tufail’s criminal operations went far beyond his dealings with Bolton man Parmer.
Both the 52-year-old father “Assassin New” and his son “Baby Assassin” were at the centre of a web of criminality that encompassed drugs, guns, money laundering and blackmail.
Mr Storrie described Asim Tufail as a “master of his craft” where money laundering was concerned and told the court he claimed to have access to a “stash” of £4M.
While working for his father, Junnaid Tufail, now 23, described the drug dealer, arms dealer, money launderer and blackmailer as his “role model.”
After a trial the older Tufail was found guilty of transferring criminal property and two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
He was also found guilty of two counts of blackmail and two counts of conspiracy to sell or transfer a prohibited weapon.
At the same trial, Junnaid Tufail pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and three counts of conspiracy to sell or transfer a prohibited weapon.
Liverpool man Lawlor pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group and of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
Oliver Jarvis, defending Bolton man Parmer, said that he deserved credit for his guilty plea and point out he had already been serving time in prison since his arrest more than three years ago.
He said: “So he has served a very large sentence, his first prison sentence, not knowing what he is going to get.”
Mr Jarvis said that on his release from prison, Parmer planned simply to “get a job.”
Elouise Marshall KC, defending Asim Tufail, said that much of his criminal boasting in the Encrochat messages had been simply “showing off.”
She said: “It shows that, for all his talk, very little actually took place.
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Khadim Al'Hassan, defending Junnaid Tufail, argued that then 19-year-old had been shown to be deeply “out of his depth.”
He said: “This whole episode has demonstrated that this dipping of his toes into the big boys league has burnt him.”
Michael Scholes, defending, Lawlor, said that the Liverpool man had been acting “effectively as a warehouseman, or minder.”
But Judge Jonathan Seely reminded the court of the sheer scale of the criminal operation.
Addressing the elder Tufail, he said: "You were operating three separate criminal enterprises, a Class A drugs supply enterprise, a weapons supply enterprise and a money laundering enterprise."
Judge Seely sentenced Asim Tufail to 23 years in prison, while Parmer was jailed for nine years and Lawlor for 52 months.
Junnaid Tufail will be brought back to court to learn his fate on Tuesday May 14 this year.
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