Man from Liverpool jailed for ten years and six months for drugs supply

A Liverpool man has been sentenced to ten years and six months in prison for drugs supply.

Gary Cain, 45, of Bold Street, Liverpool, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today, Wednesday 19 June, after pleading guilty at a previous hearing to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs (cocaine and heroin) and Class B drugs (amphetamine).

It was found that Cain had supplied 7.5kg of cocaine, 0.5kg of heroin and 48kg of amphetamine.

He was arrested at Liverpool Airport on 12 July 2023 as part of Merseyside Police’s response to Operation Venetic: an international operation targeting criminals using a mobile encryption service, commonly referred to as Encrochat.

Cain was suspected as using the Encrochat handle ‘stableworld’ and following a complex investigation, detectives were able to find multiple links between Cain and ‘stableworld’.

This included how other handles had saved ‘stableworld’ as ‘Gary Cain’, ‘GC’ or ‘gc’ and that the password for the device was the full name of Cain’s son.

Detectives also established that the ‘stableworld’ user had told other Encrochat handles that he was the same age as Cain, as well as other links involving addresses and vehicles.

Detective Inspector Peter McCullough said: “Cain, like many criminals before him, thought he could evade detection by using encrypted devices. But thanks to those networks being compromised, and some useful information provided by Cain himself, he will now serve a long prison sentence.

“We work relentlessly to prevent criminals from targeting the vulnerable people in our communities with illicit drugs. Key to this can be information from those communities who most feel the harm and I would encourage members of the public to contact us if they have any information which could assist.”

Anyone who has information about drug dealing in the community can contact us by sending a DM to @MerPolCC, calling 101 or contacting Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.