Cocaine dealers jailed for a total of 21 years

TWO Middlesbrough men have been jailed for arranging the delivery and payment of large quantities of cocaine on a secretive communications network.

- By POPPY KENNEDY

Christopher Howard and co-accused Daniel Gregory are both starting a lengthy stint behind bars after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Howard, of Huntley Close, Ormesby, used the handle ‘Salsa Hawk’ on EncroChat - a communications network used by criminals which was intercepted by international law enforcement in 2020. At the time Cleveland Police said a text burst was sent from the EncroChat platform to all their customers across Europe stating: “Today we had our domains seized by government entities... you are advised to power off and physically dispose of your device immediately.”