A senior member of an organised crime group (OCG) that ran an amphetamine lab in Scotland, and trafficked heroin and cocaine, has been sentenced following a National Crime Agency investigation.
Colin Wright, 38, from Torre Pacheco in Murcia, and formerly of Motherwell, was arrested by the Spanish National Police in March this year at the request of the National Crime Agency, and extradited to the UK on 4 October. A number of high value items were seized from his Spanish address.
Wright had travelled abroad in August 2020, and remained in Spain to avoid capture after NCA officers apprehended fellow OCG members in March 2021.
He was the head of the OCG’s Scottish arm, and was actively involved in the supply of cocaine and heroin in both Scotland and England. He is the final member of the OCG to be sentenced, with six others now serving jail terms.
Wright worked alongside Terence Earle, 50, who was jailed for 16-and-a-half years in April 2023, and Terence’s cousin Stephen Earle, 52, who was jailed for 11 years and four months in August this year.
Wright used the EncroChat handle ‘Jack-Nicklaus’ to communicate with Terence. He also sourced drugs, assessed supply routes and found customers.
He created the amphetamine lab in Motherwell. In March 2020, as the nation entered its first Covid 19 lockdown, a criminal associate delivered boxes of alpha-phenylacetoacetamide (APAA), part of the amphetamine production process, to Wright.
Over the next few days the OCG began preparing the lab, but despite messages between them saying the ‘farm’ (or lab) was ready, they struggled to obtain the necessary solvents for the production process.
Terence and Wright also exchanged photos of the liquid being treated, to check what colour it should be.
Wright helped ship at least 20 kilos of cocaine and 10 kilos of heroin, with the former moved from Merseyside to Motherwell and the latter in the opposite direction. The lab was also capable of producing 1,000 kilos of amphetamine.
He pleaded guilty to five drugs charges at Liverpool Crown Court on 1 November and was sentenced to 13 years and four months imprisonment at the same court today (16 December).
The NCA’s investigation formed part of Operation Venetic, the UK NCA-led law enforcement response to the takedown of the EncroChat service in July 2020.
NCA Branch Commander Cat McHugh said:
“Wright’s case shows that criminals who seek refuge abroad are never immune from law enforcement’s reach as the NCA has the international scope to find them, bring them back to the UK and put them before the courts.
“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 in these areas.”
