$60m drug plot foiled by photo of dog Bob

A plot to smuggle $60m worth of drugs to Australia was foiled after a gangster sent a photo of his dog on an encrypted network. The picture, spotted on EncroChat by National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators, showed Danny Brown‘s partner’s phone number on his pet dog’s tag. Brown‘s gang stuffed a stash of MDMA in the arms of a mechanical digger, and created a fake auction to make shipping the machinery 10,000 miles from Southampton to Brisbane in Australia appear legitimate.

The pair incriminated themselves further by both sending accidental selfies through the cracked messaging service.

Their plot was foiled when Brown, 55, unintentionally sabotaged it by sending a photo of his pet dog Bob on encrypted messaging service EncroChat, clearly showing his partner’s personal information. Under the handle “throwthedice”, Brown sent the pooch picture to co-conspirator Stefan Baldauf as they hatched a plan to send 448 kilos of MDMA to Australia.