Nico Logan, 31, and his man on the outside, Michael Garside, 34, have been handed long jail sentences over the plot to import cocaine from Holland
A jailed gangster who used the handle ‘Fruitykeks’ has been handed another prison sentence after he was found orchestrating a £1m drugs supply operation from behind bars.
Nico Logan, 31, and his man on the outside, Michael Garside, 34, from Wythenshawe, have been handed long jail sentences over the plot to import cocaine from Holland.
Logan was sentenced to 16 years in prison in December 2016 for firearms and drug offences. He was unmasked after law enforcement agencies hacked the servers of EncroChat, the encrypted communications platform known as ‘WhatsApp for criminals’, in northern France. He used the alias ‘fruitykecks’ to organise the delivery of drugs and firearms.
But while behind bars at Strangeways prison in Manchester, he continued his life of crime by orchestrating the importation of cocaine worth almost £1m from Holland. His racket began to unravel when a Border Force official at Birmingham Airport examined a parcel on its way from the Netherlands to an address in Wythenshawe on June 7, 2023.
The parcel was opened and inside were twelve brown, taped packages containing a white substance, later confirmed to be cocaine. The quantity and purity of the cocaine had an estimated street value of £1.2 million.
Detectives from GMP’s Serious Organised Crime Group launched a covert investigation, and on Thursday, June 15, 2023, Garside was observed by surveillance officers collecting a parcel at an address in Wythenshawe. After taking in the delivery, he made a call to Logan in prison, which police believe was an attempt to tell him the cocaine had been delivered.
Phone analysis showed this mirrored his activity in May 2023 when another parcel was delivered and it appeared Garside again intended to inform his partner that the delivery had been successful.
Garside was watched as he placed a cardboard box into his car, before driving to Cedars Road in Wythenshawe. Later that night, at 9.30pm, police swooped and Garside was arrested. Police found the cardboard box containing cocaine.
Analysis of Garside’s mobile showed he was working under the direction of someone inside prison, a man later identified as Logan who was arrested in prison.
Phone communication experts established that the mast most commonly used when the pair called was next to Logan’s prison. While in prison, Logan also asked for a number to be added to his contact list, for a friend called Michael. This number was linked to the Cedars Road address.
Further phone work also showed Garside received a series of messages and was given a ‘window’ of when to expect a delivery.
Garside pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and conspiracy to import cocaine at a hearing in May this year. Nico Logan pleaded not guilty, but he was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to supply cocaine following a four-day trial at Manchester Crown Square Crown Court.
Logan, of no fixed address but originally from Wythenshawe, was sentenced to 15 years for conspiracy to import and supply cocaine. This will run consecutively to the 16 year sentence he is currently serving. Michael Garside, of Cedars Road in Wythenshawe, was sentenced to nine years and seven months for conspiracy to import and supply cocaine.
Detective Constable Marc Walby, of GMP’s Serious Organised Crime Group, said: “Nico Logan did not use his time in prison to rehabilitate, rather he continued to build on his illicit enterprise, seeking to make vast profits from the trade of a highly destructive commodity.
“We know that organised criminal networks will seek to exploit infrastructure like the postal or fast parcel system to bring their illegal commodities into the UK undetected, but we are working closely and collaboratively with a variety of partners and colleagues to stop them.”