Drugs kingpin who oversaw sale of £4.5M of cocaine jailed after four years on the run
A drugs boss who spent four years on the run from police in Spain, Portugal and Morocco has been jailed for 18 years.
Alex Male, from Weston-super-Mare, admitted two conspiracies to supply cocaine and ketamine across the south of England as well as laundering the money he made.
The 32-year-old was caught after the UK authorities took down the encrypted messaging service Encrochat, which was used by criminals around the world.
Male - who was nicknamed 'Viking' by other criminals - used the Encrochat handles 'Originaldagger' and 'Ragner.com'.
He was arrested in June 2020 but, when released on bail, fled the country - spending time in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. It was in Morocco that he was eventually detained in August this year and extradited to the UK.
The South West Organised Crime Unit says the first of the two conspiracies Male admitted running involved drug dealers Tom Allwood and Danny Ashburner.
Ashburner, 33, produced large quantities of ketamine for Allwood, 38, to sell - making at least 50kg of the drug between March and June 2020.
Male used Encrochat to buy £26,600 worth of ketamine from Allwood in April 2020.
Allwood and Ashburner were both jailed in May last year - Allwood for 11 years and Ashburner for 10 years and four months.
Male also headed up a separate organised crime group who were all jailed in March this year for a total of 56 years for their roles as dealers, drugs and money couriers for Male.
In total, Male oversaw the supply of at least 130 kilos of high purity cocaine worth £4.5million between March and June 2020.
Kai Williams acted as a class A drugs broker for the crime group.
In one Encrochat exchange, Male sent Williams a photo of a 1kg block of cocaine with a quoted price of £37,500. Willams replied to Male that it “looks banging”.
Williams, formerly of Coombe Dingle, Bristol, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to the conspiracy.
Luther Takawira, of Portishead and his friends James Cox and Benjamin Fry, both formerly of Shirehampton in Bristol, all stood trial and were convicted - receiving sentences of 11 to 15 years.
The jury heard Cox collected 20 kilos of cocaine on a single trip to Slough and Fry brought back 30 kilos from West Bromwich. The drugs were then delivered throughout our region, including to Portsmouth, Trowbridge, Bristol and Bridgwater.
Male pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply ketamine and money laundering at Exeter Crown Court in September and was sentenced at the same court on Monday 2 December.
Watch the moment Male is taken into police custody
Detective Inspector Adrian Hawkins, who led the investigation, said that the operation to arrest Male will make it harder for people to sell drugs in the South West.
“It’s easy to look at images of kilo blocks of cocaine or piles of cash and be detached from the misery behind them – people that have been victims of robbery, burglary, theft, gang crime or other violence will know that drugs featured heavily in the cause.
"And, by taking people like Male off the top of that tree and disrupting that chain, that will have an impact on the communities and hopefully a little bit of respite and justice for those who were affected by the knock-on crimes."
DI Hawkins speaks to ITV News West Country about Male's sentencing
Hawkins said that anyone who tries to replicate Alex's crime will "take up a massive amount of risk and should know the police and law enforcement is going to be after them".
He added: “Alex Male’s time on the run has meant we’ve waited a long time to see him get sentenced, but we, together with our partners in the National Crime Agency, Crown Prosecution Service and abroad, were never going to give up on bringing him back to face justice.”
David Hucker, the NCA International Regional Head of Operations and who led the efforts to track down and extradite Male, said: “Alex Male went to extreme lengths to try and evade capture but he didn’t count on the determination of the NCA officers seeking him out.
"We worked with police in the UK and Morocco, together ensuring he could be brought to account for drug trafficking, a crime that fuels violence and exploitation in communities nationwide.
“Anyone who is on the run or thinking about attempting to flee UK justice should reflect on Male’s case, which demonstrates the NCA’s international reach and our determination to apprehend fugitives, however long it takes.”