A man who was one of the UK’s most wanted criminals has been sent to prison for 12 years at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Friday, February 14.
Calvin Parris was the last member of an organised crime group (OCG) to be brought to justice after being on the run for four years.
Parris, 34, from Cardiff, was finally detained by Portuguese Judicial Police officers in the Algarve, Portugal, on October 3.
Specialist National Extradition Unit officers from the NCA’s Joint International Crime Centre (JICC) escorted him back to the UK on October 15, 2024, and he was taken into custody by South Wales Police.
Duncan Burrage, NCA International Regional Manager, said:
“After naming Calvin Parris as one of our most wanted fugitives, we were relentless in our efforts to track him down and return him to Wales to face justice.
“The jail term served to Parris today wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of our Portuguese Judicial Police partners who located and arrested him in the Algarve last year.
“This case demonstrates our commitment to work closely with domestic and international law enforcement to ensure there is nowhere for UK fugitives to run and hide from justice.”
Detective Sergeant Ceri Young of South Wales Police said:
“Calvin Parris was a member of an organised crime group involved in a complex conspiracy to traffic class A controlled drugs into South Wales utilising encrypted communications devices operating on the ‘EncroChat’ platform.
“Parris and his co-conspirators used encrypted communications devices which operated the ‘EncroChat’ platform to aid their offending and frustrate law enforcement.
“Organised crime and drug trafficking has a significant detrimental impact on communities and bringing offenders involved in this level of criminality to justice is a priority for South Wales Police.”
On Wednesday May 27, 2020, Albanian national Lenci Gashi was stopped while driving a Citroen Berlingo on the M4 towards South Wales. His van was found to contain 15kg of pressed cocaine destined for members of the OCG.
On June 16, 2020, Michael Laverick, said to be the head of the South Wales based OCG, was arrested.
Between March 31 and May 27, 2020, the group took possession of 35kg cocaine and paid £696,000 to upstream suppliers via a complex network of trusted criminal associate, safe locations and criminal couriers.
Laverick was supported by his second in command Asim Naveed who was responsible for the onward distribution of cocaine once it had been received from the upstream suppliers.
Danny Attard was part of the group which received consignments of cocaine, storing them at a safe location within the wider city of Cardiff before being involved in their onward distribution.
Calvin Parris and Damian Farrugia both of Cardiff were identified as regular customers involved in the purchase of wholesale amounts of cocaine from Laverick and during the relevant dates of this conspiracy case it was deemed that Parris and Farrugia each received 7kg of cocaine respectively.
Amir Khan had been identified as a trusted customer of the group who received 6.5kg cocaine facilitated by his use of ‘EncroChat’.
South Wales Police investigators conducted phased enforcement on members of the OCG executing multiple search warrants on several addresses in the South Wales area.
These warrants resulted in arrests of members of the group coupled with the recovery of relevant evidence including cash, communications devices and high-value clothing and goods demonstrating financial gains of the group.
Asim Naveed and Calvin Parris were not found during the initial enforcement phase and were later found to have fled the United Kingdom for Portugal.
South Wales Police investigators worked closely with the National Crime Agency to share information and intelligence which led to their arrest in Portugal in June and October 2024 respectively.
Earlier sentences handed down to members of the OCG:
- Amir Khan – 20 years, 7 months
- Michael Laverick – 18 years
- Danny Attard – 14 years
- Damian Farrugia – 13 years
- Lenci Gashi – 11 years, 4 months
- Asim Naveed – 10 years, 8 months
