Alan and John Tobin saw their drug empire crumble when police intercepted a truck carrying εκατο 20 million worth of cocaine on the M6. The loss of a 90% net charge led to John being shot for debts owed to a mysterious accountant. Read more related articles According to ECHO, the brothers had supplied hundreds of pounds of drugs to notorious gangs across the UK and EncroChat messages showed that older brother Alan was also feeling the pressure. Desperate drug lord Alan helped hatch a brutal conspiracy to shoot a father and son in the backyard – from gunmen disguised as pizza drivers. And he conspired with a supposed gang boss to “engage” another enemy in prison. For the first time, ECHO has been able to publish secret conversations revealing how Alan Tobin went from dreaming of making millions to a conflict involving some of the North West’s biggest gang figures.
The CapeRocket and SlightDrake drug empire
Tobin brothers Alan Tobin, 52, (left) and John Tobin, 40, (right) (Image: Liverpool Echo) Alan and John Tobin ran a “sophisticated, highly profitable and well-organized business” nationwide. But the duo did not run a legal company – they supplied huge quantities of cocaine, heroin, ketamine and cannabis to gangs in England, Wales and Scotland. Older brother Alan, 52, grew up humble from the beginning as a forklift driver, Liverpool fruit market worker and Royal Mail sorting clerk to become a respected mental health nurse based in the low-security unit of Rathbone Mental Health Hospital. Read more related articles Read more related articles Living on the affluent Regency Park estate in Widnes, the father of five married beautician Helen Hartley, 35, also known as Ellie Tobin, on Lake Garda in Italy, and embarked on a two-week, λι 10,000 honeymoon. However, the veneer of respect provided by his public service hid his second life as an EncroChat “CapeRocket” drug dealer, working with his younger brother, John, 41, also known as “SlightDrake”. For more than four years, between 2016 and 2020, Tobins recruited couriers using specially adapted vehicles with hidden compartments to transport their drugs across the UK. Among their notorious clients were two Warrington companies – Anthony and Leon Cullen’s heavily armed gang and a team led by Jamie Oldroyd – as well as a Liverpool team led by Lee Stoba.
“The Bear” Enforcement Fighter Cage
Former MMA fighter Rob Broughton worked as an “enforcer” for a drug empire (Image: Getty) Stirring in such circles, the Tobins needed serious “muscles.” They had it in the form of former UFC competitor Robbie ‘The Bear’ Broughton from St Helens, who imposed unpaid debts and collected payments on their behalf. The 6ft 2in, 18st bruiser used an EncroChat encrypted phone with the “NovaBear” handle. He was a close associate of the Tobbins, but also in regular telephone contact with the Cullen brothers and offered to transfer money to other gangs, charging a commission of 7.5%. Broughton, 38, of Breccia Gardens, was not shipping drugs, but prosecutors estimated he was carrying 30 30m in cash. This number showed the huge profits from the illegal trade. Much of the money eventually ended up in the Canary Wharf in London, where it was channeled through various shell companies and “laundered professionally”. The Tobin brothers reaped the benefits by enjoying “luxurious lifestyles.” Up to .000 150,000 in dirty cash was paid into the bank account of Alan’s wife, Hartley. Meanwhile, John amassed an expensive collection of watches and jewelry at his home on Manor Road in Prescot.
The lucrative business dealt a fatal blow
Police seize 20 million pounds of cocaine from a truck stopped at M6 (Image: Liverpool Echo) Alan and John’s drug racket began to unfold after they ordered a man named Jamie Simpson to transport 20 20 million worth of cocaine from Kent to Warrington. Detectives made the largest cocaine seizure ever on land in the UK when they stopped Simpson from driving the van. The raid, which took place early on the evening of August 2, 2018, yielded 186 kilos of cocaine. The illegal cargo was hidden under floorboards and in a specially shaped “top”. Amazing shots from a police helicopter showed the moment the police stopped the blue van on the M6 near Knutsford. It was a deadly blow to the brothers’ lucrative business. John’s DNA was later found in the bubble wrap of one of the drug blocks in the van. Investigations would reveal that less than a week earlier, on July 28, he had traveled from Kent to Brussels via Eurostar, where he had watched the pieces being placed in boxes during the packaging process. All of these details would emerge as part of a lengthy investigation by detectives. But in the aftermath of the seizure, the Tobins had far greater problems than the police.
A Debt To The Banker
Jamie Simpson, 31, of Delery Drive, Padgate, Warrington (Image: PA) The serious consequences of a colossal victory for the police when Jamie Simpson was arrested were revealed when the Tobins were convicted of their drug conspiracies last April. The Liverpool Crown Court ruled by March 2020 that the brothers were facing “big debts” which prosecuted Nicola Daley said was “perhaps not surprising” given that “they had lost 186kg of drugs”. He said: “John Tobin in particular was under some pressure to pay other people, it may have been for salaries he could not pay them for other jobs. “He was pressured to sell his own personal belongings to pay those sums.” The EncroChat hack revealed that John often sent instructions through Alan to Broughton, to contact someone known only as “The Banker”. Court documents show that Broughton’s debt collector sometimes carried messages from “The Banker” back to the Tobins. Ms Daley told the court that “The Banker” was believed to be a woman who acted as an accountant in the underworld drug trade. Evidence suggests that John owed The Banker a “substantial sum” and that the MMA star “got engaged to try to get that money and get in touch with John Tobin.”
Shots
Police at the scene of the shooting at the Brook Road Estate in Prescot To pay off his debt to The Banker, John was offered to sell some of his watches or jewelry. However, he pointed out that the police had already understood them, when his house was searched after his shooting. On the afternoon of February 6, 2020, a 39-year-old man appeared at the hospital with a gunshot wound, after being targeted in a new residential complex. Neighbors heard a series of gunshots in the area around Manor Road – the suspected shooting scene at the Brook Road estate in Prescot – around 8:30 p.m. The victim of that shooting was John. His lawyer, Jason Smith, revealed that the head of the family was shot as part of a series of threats and intimidation by those at the top of the drug trade. Mr John said: “John Tobin was shot and followed by various threats against him and a series of violent demands for money from him.” He added: “There were others above them in the chain who not only influenced them, but intimidated and attacked them.” Read more related articles Read more related articles
“We will be millionaires now”
The drug shipment hidden inside the Tobin brothers van, which stopped at the M6 (Image: Liverpool Echo) By April 2020, the Tobins had been forced to become much more “surrendered” to their drug plots. This was largely due to the problems they faced in the aftermath of the M6 mega haul and the prison sentences they were serving for associates in Warrington. EncroChat data recovered in a hack by French and Dutch authorities led to a “cold review” by Cheshire police of old Tobins evidence and previous appearances with the man driving the van, Simpson, and Oldroyd and Anthony Cullen gang leaders. they had all been imprisoned. Prosecutors said the Tobins “were selling to a group and when that group left, they started selling to the group that followed.” The texts showed that the brothers supplied kilos of cocaine, “tops”, kilos of heroin, “botts”, plus “ketts”, ketamine and “smokes and greens”, cannabis. On April 2 and 3, the couple was discussing deliveries in Darlington and Sheffield, but their fortunes had changed, thanks to the loss of cash and contacts. Ms Daley said: “There was a reference to the ‘links’ they had in the past and the word they used was ‘nuggets’, which seemed to be related to those arrested by the authorities, who had broken those links. Referring to this, there was a comment without this intervention “we will be millionaires by now”.
An innocent man was shot by a fake pizza delivery man
Upload video Video is not available Click to play Click to play The video will play automatically soon8Cancel Play now Around 9pm on Friday night, April 24, 2020, a man named David Barnes was shot at his home in Warrington. A bullet hit him in the right leg. It was not the intended target of a fake driver in a package, who had knocked on his front door and shouted “pizza delivery”. Mr. Barnes was shot for having the misfortune to open the door to a gunman who was looking for his adopted son – the heroin dealer Liam Byrne Junior. The man who pulled the trigger was Everton squaddie Aaron Bretherton. But the soldier on duty did not work alone – he was part of a ruthless conspiracy that could be traced to the desperate Tobin brothers. This week, the conviction of one of the conspirators – Norris Green “assembler” Lewis Fitzpatrick – heard that the attack was “part of a dispute over who controlled drug trafficking in the Warrington area.” Lawyer Phil Barnes, who is being prosecuted, said Byrne Jnr had “aligned” himself with those responsible and so “it was a fair game on target”. But who ordered the blow?
“Get me details, I will make these muppets”
Aaron Bretherton, 24, of Netherfield Road …
