A Salford drug lord who fled to Spain to avoid arrest has been jailed after two years on the run.
Sean Farrell, 52, of Moorfield Road in Claremont, was jailed for five years and three months for conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Greater Manchester Police had executed warrants for Farrell’s arrest in January 2022, only to find he had vanished.
At the centre of the investigation was the use of encrypted mobile phones, with organised criminal networks using encrypted communications to conceal their identities and evade the law.
In 2020, law enforcement agencies collaborated across Europe to dismantle the criminal network, where Farrell was identified as a key supplier of drugs.
Evidence from the encrypted phones shows the 52-year-old was profiting around £3,000 per transaction dealing cocaine.
The drug lord’s criminal enterprise extended beyond Salford, with plans to import cannabis from overseas and distribute it across the United Kingdom.
His two-year evasion of the law came to an end on Monday 2 September, when officers stopped a car with Spanish license plates in Old Trafford, where passenger Farrell provided fake details.
Detective Constable Sajid Sardar said: “This was a complex investigation which involved cracking encrypted communications, gaining international cooperation from Spanish authorities, and years of persistence.
“His jail term sends a clear message: organised crime will not be tolerated in Greater Manchester. We will pursue offenders no matter where they hide, and no matter how long they have been hiding for.”
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