‘Driven by greed’

17:45, 17 Jun 2025Updated 17:53, 17 Jun 2025

(L-R) Abdul Bahadir, Husnain Ali and Mohammed Omayr(Image: GMP)

A trio of big-time drug dealers have become the latest gangsters to be jailed after police hacked the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat.

Using names such as ‘TupacDon’ and ‘Simonsays’, the gang supplied huge quantities of heroin and cocaine across the country.

Mohammed Omayr, 41, from Chorlton; Abdul Bahadir, from Oldham, 41; and Husnain Ali, 36, from Bolton, have been handed lengthy jail sentences following an investigation which also uncovered ‘dirty’ cash, designer clothes and watches.

Omayr was responsible for the sale, distribution, returns, testing, storage, and payments for a huge amount of class A drugs, according to Greater Manchester Police.

He directed his courier, Bahadir, to move massive amounts of money and to deliver the drugs to customers across the country on a daily basis, hiding cocaine and heroin in a hidden compartment of his car.

Bahadir, who also ran Omayr’s ‘stash houses’, had originally acted as the gang’s accountant, but later became a courier as their business became more and more successful, using the EncroChat handles ‘TupacDon’ and ‘Simonsays’.

Some of the cash police seized(Image: GMP)

Ali took over Bahadir’s role of the gang’s accountant, which saw him counting and packaging the money for onward delivery and storage.

The trio used the now defunct encrypted messaging platform, Encrochat, which allowed crooks to communicate safely away from eyes of law enforcement agencies.

That ended when investigators hacked into EncroChat’s server in Roubaix, northern France, in April 2020, sending bogus updates to devices across the globe which effectively mined the incriminating data criminals wanted so much to conceal.

Detectives brought the trio to justice after trawling through thousands of messages they exchanged as part of their operation, with Ali also using same handles on occasions.

The gang supplied huge amounts of class A drugs across the country(Image: GMP)

Officers swooped on the evening of Tuesday, July 28, in 2020, stopping a car on the southbound carriageway of M61. Bahadir was at the wheel while Ali was a front seat passenger.

Police searched the car, uncovering the secret compartment which was packed full of cocaine, mixing agents, and digital scales. They were both arrested.

Later that evening, police raided a series of properties in Oldham and Chorlton. At Bahadir’s address in Oldham, police recovered over £157,000 in cash hidden around the property, a vacuum packing machine, digital scales, and ‘vast amounts’ of luxury designer clothing.

At Omayr’s home in Chorlton, police found almost £25,000 in cash, designer clothing and a watch. On his driveway, he had a black Lamborghini Urus, estimated to be worth more than £200,000 and more cash.

Watches seized by police(Image: GMP)

The men were finally brought to justice when they were jailed at Manchester Crown Court on Monday (June 16).

Omayr, of Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, was jailed for 16 years and four months after a jury had earlier convicted him of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

Bahadir, of Allama Iqbal Road, Oldham, was jailed 11 years and six months. Ali, of Spinning Mews in Bolton was sentenced to eight years and 11 months. The pair had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

After the hearing, Det Con Bryan Deighton, of Bury police, said: “These men went to great lengths to conceal their illicit enterprise, they used encrypted mobile phones and built a hidden compartment in the cars they used to transfer the commodity in, all in an attempt to operate in secret.

“These men were driven by greed and spent their obscene proceeds of crime on designer clothes and flashy cars, unbothered that this wealth was gained at the expense of vulnerable drug users.

“I hope today’s sentence is a stark reminder to criminals across Greater Manchester, regardless of time passed, we continue to investigate those who used encrypted phones, and we will continue with our relentless pursuit until you are brought to justice.”