How underworld ‘fixer’ behind £3m drugs ring built secret life in Costa del Crime before web of lies came crashing down

AS gangster Craig Bennett swaggered into a posh hotel in Barcelona he must have thought himself untouchable. But his reign as a top criminal broker for Britain’s criminal underground was about to come to a crashing end after five years hiding out in luxury apartments on Spain’s Costa del Sol. Bennett had a secret life in Spain Credit: National Crime Agency Bennett was living a life of luxury in Spain Credit: Getty As he walked into the hotel bar, cops swooped in to arrest Bennett who helped flood the UK with cocaine and ketamine and supplied firearms to crooks in a £3.75million operation. In a sinister twist, police also discovered he was trying to offload a deadly gun with a silencer that he bought from a thug in south-east London. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! A top cop told The Sun: “It was like an assassin’s weapon.” Bennett, 41, originally from Uxbridge, west London, lived the high life in Spain with a contacts book stuffed with criminals who he helped supply drugs, firearms and money laundering services. Bennett bought a gun with a silencer from a criminal in London for £5,000 Credit: National Crime Agency Bennett send associates images of sweeping views from his hideouts Credit: National Crime Agency He was a fixer who brokered handovers between thugs and clients, exchanging passwords, locations, timings and car details in exchange for a slice of the profits. He also had a gang of couriers in Britain who helped distribute 91 kilos of drugs and illicit cash. Bennett directed Gerald Tohill, 60, from Bracknell, Berkshire, and Lucien Robinson, 38, from Wokingham to collect and distribute illicit cash and drugs on numerous occasions. Lucien’s father, 75-year-old Peter Robinson was also involved in hiding cash for the enterprise. Most read in The Sun Cops had no idea Bennett was such a big player in the drug and weapons world until 2020 when French police hacked into the secret phone network EncroChat, used by criminals to communicate. Even his family were shocked by his secret life. They believed he was a legitimate businessman, although it’s not know what he told them he did. Bennett was back home in Britain seeing a girlfriend when news broke of the Encrochat breakthrough and he quickly fled back to his villa in Spain, which boasted sweeping views of the Costa del Sol. Cops found photos of stacks of cash on Bennett’s phone Credit: National Crime Agency Bennett and his accomplices shared images of their drug deals Credit: National Crime Agency Messages on Bennett’s phone between March and June 2020 revealed his role in supplying 91.8kilos of drugs with the help of a criminal gang back home in the UK. He was also trying to flog two guns, including one with a silencer he bought for £5,000 in Mottingham, London. Senior investigating officer John Turner, of the National Crime Agency – Britain’s version of the FBI, told The Sun: “It was a loaded firearm with 50 bullets and a silencer, almost like an assassin’s weapon, very sinister. “Bennett had some minor convictions in the UK but was good at leaving no trace of what he was up to. “He never got his own hands dirty but was always getting a cut of the deals he brokered. You have to have good contacts to do that. “The men who helped him worked non-stop, they were organised, their bookkeeping and communication had to be good. It’s a shame they didn’t put that effort into conventional work because they certainly put the hours in. “We only had a tiny two month window into a small part of his operations and there were no doubt more.” Bennett was arrested in July last year and extradited back to Britain the following month. Sources said his partner, a woman with her own business in Kent, was “blindsided” by Bennett’s criminality as were his family. He loved to boast of his lifestyle, sending fellow gangsters images of views from the balcony of his apartment. John Turner added: “Had it not been for Encrochat he might never have got caught. “The encrypted platform allowed criminals to grow networks and they became extremely confident in their interactions. They thought they were beyond the reach of the law. How cops brought down EncroChat EncroChat was a company which sold encrypted phones, which were used for illegal business. It was one of the largest providers of encrypted communications, used by 60,000 users worldwide, and around 10,000 users in the UK and offered a secure mobile phone instant messaging service. The sole use was for coordinating and planning the distribution of illicit commodities, money laundering and plotting to kill rival criminals. The phones cost up approximately £1,600 to buy and were modified Android devices. The encrypted phone industry generally advertises its phones as capable of resisting lawful attempts to gain access to their contents – either in the face of attacks or through police monitoring. What’s more, EncroChat users could enter a PIN, which would immediately delete all messages on the device. From 2016, the National Crime Agency (NCA) had been working with international law enforcement to target EncroChat, and in 2020, they managed to infiltrate the platform. A breakthrough in the operation came in January 2020 when the French developed a hack, whereby a software update – actually spyware – would be sent to all phones on the platform. Once updated, the gangs unknowingly gave agencies unprecedented access to organised crime gangs’ secret communications. In 2020, authorities arrested 746 suspected top-tier criminals who are believed to be involved in murder, gun smuggling and drug trafficking crimes, and seized £54m in cash and 1.5 tonnes of cocaine. Investigations and arrests have been ongoing ever since. Courier Tohill was jailed for nine years Credit: National Crime Agency Lucien Robinson was one of Bennett’s couriers Credit: National Crime Agency Peter Robinson was given a suspended sentence Credit: National Crime Agency “Bennett was out in Spain living the good life and there was no real profile on him but that came to an end when EncroChat was cracked. “He was the lynchpin of this conspiracy to bring harmful drugs into the UK and directed the movements of members of his gang.” Bennett was jailed 14 years last month for conspiracy to supply drugs including cannabis, cocaine and ketamine as well as conspiracy to sell a weapon and ammo. His accomplice Tohil was earlier given nine years for conspiracy to supply drugs and conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property. Lucien Robinson was caged for five years on drug charges while his dad Peter, of Bracknell, Berks, was given a 12 month suspended sentence for conspiracy to conceal criminal property. 1 comment1