Jess Battison
A drug dealer was arrested after he accidentally exposed his identity with a photo of just his fingers.
Kane Molyneux has now been jailed for 10 years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs heroin, 2CP, cocaine, and the Class B drug amphetamine oil.
He was arrested at Manchester Airport last Christmas while trying to leave the UK for Dubai but it was a simple snap that led to his identification.
The 33-year-old was found to play a ‘significant role’ in an international network, as he peddled the drugs ‘on the streets of Merseyside’ as well as dealing with suppliers in the Netherlands.
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In order to communicate, the group used EncroChat, a comms network popular with organised crime groups, as it was thought to be uncrackable.
But in 2020, a British-Dutch-French taskforce infiltrated it, and it was dismantled.
One device obtained during Operation Venetic, a national investigation into the use of EncroChat encrypted phones, found evidence incriminating Molyneux.
A number of messages and photos had been sent by a user with the handle ‘Sauvesage’.
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This account had avoided revealing his identity, but scuppered it when he shared a close-up snap of a hand covered in a pink substance.
Sauvesage referred to it as ‘pink’, the street name for psychoactive Class A substance, 2C-P. And in the background of this, the tip of a thumb can clearly be seen.
Investigators were able to use this and match it to Molyneux’s fingerprints, catching him pink-handed.
Merseyside police added: “Other evidence retrieved from the device showed him playing a significant role in conspiracy to supply with at least one other Encrochat user based in the Netherlands.”
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Detective Sergeant Craig Doyle said: "Molyneux is just the latest person to be brought to justice for their involvement in the widescale peddling of drugs on the streets of Merseyside.
"I am pleased that thanks to the diligence of our officers, who carried out a detailed and thorough investigation, that we managed to secure enough evidence to put him behind bars for 10 years.
"Our work will go on to target other people involved in this type of criminality.
"I would ask our communities to continue to support us in our efforts to get these people off our streets and behind bars where they belong and encourage anyone who has any information about drug dealing or who is storing or using weapons in their communities to contact us so that we can take positive action."