A British drug lord known as The Voice is the suspected mastermind behind a secret phone network used to flood Britain with cocaine.
Robert Dawes, 48, is suspected of being the boss of the impenetrable global communication system, according to a report by the National Crime Agency.
Thought to be worth 50million or more, Dawes is said to run the network despite languishing behind bars in France for a huge trafficking operation.
The handsets are also used by the Mafia and cartels made infamous by caged Mexican crime boss Joaquin Guzman, nicknamed El Chapo.
All users have an encrypted SIM card in an adapted Blackberry handset.
If one should fall into the hands of police, the gang can simply send a kill code text which destroys anything stored on the device.
The technology believed by the NCA to have been written by a Ukrainian technology genius is seen as a 21st century update on Burn After Reading letters used in international espionage.
Encrypted handsets were supplied by a now-dissolved UK-registered company No1 Business Communication (No1BC).
Usually, organised criminals download encrypted phone apps or buy burner phones, which are changed regularly.
But this is the first detailed case of a UK crime group controlling an entire encrypted network. And, the NCA evidence suggests, Dawes was the first sponsor or user of the system.
An NCA officer said: These were major players in control of a phone network which could not be penetrated.
"Dawes has always been very switched on with his comms. But once he had control of this secret end-to-end encryption it became more difficult.
Nottingham-born Dawes made it clear his name should not be mentioned in phone calls, so associates referred to him as The Voice. Many in the drug supply chain never knew his real identity.
The NCA officer added: He would not deal with anyone on anything sensitive unless they were on this network.
It was also the first time we had seen a whole organised crime group operating in a number of countries including the UK using the same network like this.
We were shooting blind because we werent picking up on these comms once the No1BC system was being used.
No1BC was registered in the UK in 2011 by Roy Livings, an associate of Dawes later jailed for importing 167 kilos of cocaine into Portugal.
Israeli Eli-Meir Gampel, another founding director and based in Germany, was jailed for laundering 30million of Colombian drug cartel money through a UK firm.
The Ukrainian tech wizard is said to have worked through Livings and Gampel.
Dawes worked closely with a Dutch crime group led by Gwenette Martha, whose right-hand man Najeb Bouhbouh was a director of No1BC Belgium Ltd.
However, Bouhbouh and Martha were gunned down in 2012 and 2104 respectively. The gangland slayings sparked more than 20 tit-for-tat assassinations across Europe, including cases of mistaken identity.
To get around Dawes impenetrable phone system, investigators resorted to old-fashioned surveillance and, after a tip-off, bugged a hotel in Madrid, where he met Colombian cartel representatives. Dawes was later arrested at his villa on the Costa del Sol in late 2015.
Investigators seized No1BC encrypted phones, but by the time they examined the devices the incriminating data had been erased.
Nevertheless, the British kingpin was extradited to France and jailed for 22 years after cocaine worth 217million was found in suitcases at Charles de Gaulle airport.
The NCA suspects Dawes is still giving orders from his Paris prison cell after learning details of calls made on illicit mobile phones.
He is appealing his conviction. But police in the Netherlands also want to speak to Dawes in connection with the murder of Gerard Meesters an innocent schoolteacher shot in 2002 for refusing to reveal the whereabouts of his sister.
She disappeared after a shipment of cannabis went missing.
We can reveal the NCA raised concerns on encrypted networks in a 2020 threat assessment for Downing Street.
It is understood the network can operate as it is not easy to prove it is used only by criminals. Sources say to take down the network authorities must find the servers difficult as they are based in a number of countries but rarely in the same jurisdiction as the company operating them.
No1BC has been dissolved in the UK, according to Companies House. But it still has sales outlets in 24 countries.
A shop in Manchester was the only place in the UK selling the encrypted phone and SIM package, costing 1,300 for a six-month contract, according to the No1BC website.
Shortly after the Mirrors enquiries, the Manchester details were removed.Insiders say the NCA is working with European partners to find ways of taking down a number of networks including No1BC.
The NCA officer added: Conversations are taking place at the highest levels and are happening globally.
There are people who argue its their right to have encryption. But at this level, we rarely find these kinds of comms are used for legitimate business reasons.
Phone mastermind Robert Dawes is a dad of three whose crime-stained tentacles spread across Europe and as far as Dubai.
From his days as a young criminal on a Nottingham council estate he became one of Europes Top 10 most wanted gangsters.
He got his first conviction at 11, was jailed aged 20 and again at 22 for robbery.
Inside, Dawes corrupted officers into a drug smuggling ring that netted 500,000.
On his release in 1997, Dawes teamed up with pals who controlled Nottinghams notorious Bestwood Estate. He linked up with gangs across the UK and then major league drug mobs in Holland and Spain.
By 2001 Dawes was despatching 50 to 100 kilos of drugs every week. Some 30-40 firearms were also hidden in consignments.
As well as arming the Bestwood cartel causing a huge spike in Nottinghams gun crime in 2002 weapons went to gangs in Manchester, Liverpool and London.
Dawes relocated to the Costa del Sol in 2001 to escape Nottinghamshire Police. He bought a 1million villa in Benalmadena but still dressed in tracksuit and trainers.
His aliases ranged from Trackie, Franky, The Derbyman, The One and The Voice.
In 2005, Dawes brother John was jailed for 24 years. Ledgers revealed at least 8.5million was sent to Franky in Spain.
By 2007 Dawes was flitting between Spain and Dubai, where he laundered cash, built a 10million property portfolio and spent time with a Chinese mistress.
Spanish police eventually charged him but the case collapsed in 2012. Dawes began organising yet larger shipments of cocaine and heroin working in thousands of kilos rather than hundreds.
In 2013 French authorities seized a record 1.3 tons of cocaine in suitcases of 31 ghost passengers. Those arrested all had Dawes trademark encrypted phones.
He was nicked later after being taped boasting: You know the big one in Paris in all the luggage... that was mine.
Dawes was jailed for 22 years in 2018 and investigators are trawling his money trail which may span 60 countries.
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Drug lord 'The Voice' is 50m mastermind behind phone scam flooding UK with cocaine - Mirror.co.uk
