A Birmingham taxi driver who was part of a gang which peddled cocaine and firearms across the north of England has been jailed today, Tuesday, January 7. Four members of the organised crime group have been jailed following a long-running National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
The NCA said Safdar Pervez, 57, of City Road, Edgbaston, moonlighted as a trusted courier for the criminal network and operated under perceived darkness behind his ‘Satanicgate’ EnroChat handle. The group was headed by 39-year-old Carl O’Flaherty, who was jailed for over years 17 in 2023.
His criminal enterprise was foiled as part of Operation Venetic, the NCA-led UK response to the infiltration and takedown of encrypted communications platform EncroChat. From 2019 to late 2020, the organised crime group purchased large quantities of cocaine as well as chemicals required to make amphetamine.
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The drugs and chemicals were taken to addresses in Leeds and Bradford where gang members, referred to as “chefs”, would produce amphetamine and adulterate the cocaine for onward supply.
Left to right: David Brierley, Michal Stanislawczuk and Daryll Hall
(Image: NCA)
Today, Tuesday, January 7, three of O’Flaherty’s aides and one of his criminal associates were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court. They were found guilty of drug supply offences following a three-week trial in November 2024.
Pervez was jailed for 11 years for his role ferrying large quantities of drugs and tens of thousands of pounds across the north of England. One of his regular trips was to County Durham to deliver kilos of diluted cocaine to 39-year-old Daryll Hall, one of O’Flaherty’s top customers.
The NCA said the gang ferried cocaine across the north of England
(Image: NCA)
Hall, of Spennymoor, County Durham, was sentenced to 15 years in his absence having absconded before the start of November’s trial. Work to locate him and bring him into custody is ongoing.
Michal Stanislawczuk, 39, also known by his EncroChat handles ‘Sizabelarm’ and ‘Polishshaman’, was jailed for 12 years for his role as a ‘chef’, which included an unsuccessful attempt to extract cocaine dissolved in 37 litres of oil.
Another of the gang’s chefs, 38-year-old David Brierley, from Leeds, produced amphetamine and was unmasked as the user behind EncroChat handle ‘Kingchef-uk’. He was jailed for 12 years and six months.