A jury has been urged to convict a man accused of running a major drugs operation linked to serious organised crime from his Dundee home.
Prosecutors allege that Aaron Bradford, 35, used the secretive EncroChat network to discuss obtaining and supplying drugs.
The High Court in Dundee heard how police raided the home Bradford rented on Strachan Avenue and found a hydraulic press machine in the garage and blenders which had traces of cocaine.
Jurors heard claims that packaging linked to blocks of cocaine were also found in a bin in the garage along with a glove containing Bradford’s DNA.
Bradford denies all of the allegations against him. He has incriminated another man who denied being a drugs runner or courier for Bradford.
Tick lists and samurai sword
The raid on the address in June 2020 was linked to Operation Venetic, a European-wide probe that managed to penetrate EncroChat, an underground phone network associated with criminals trading drugs and weapons across the continent.
Communications uncovered in the EncroChat crackdown found numerous messages shared by a user named “El Pazo” which was allegedly linked to a mobile phone used by Bradford.
No significant quantities of drugs or cash were found in the property. The court heard two notebooks consistent with “tick lists” were discovered in the house as well as a samurai sword.
A Land Rover Discovery was also found in the driveway which was registered to the other man but insured by Bradford.
Closing speeches
Advocate depute Lindsey Dalziel told the jury: “Aaron Bradford was at the centre of this. Questions you have to ask yourself are ‘was there criminality going on?’
“You know there were many items taken out of the house covered in cocaine. Did Aaron Bradford agree to do something? I suggest of course he did and if he was El Pazo, he was never off the phone telling people where to go and what to do.
“Did he know or suspect in doing what he did he was furthering serious organised crime?”
The prosecutor had previously referenced EncroChat messages where the El Pazo profile discusses how they “lost” their van after “chasing a c***”.
This came soon after a van was discovered in a ditch in Dundee with the registered keeper found to be Bradford.
Other chats were found to discuss red gel used to line blocks of cocaine with residue similar to the gel discovered in packaging dumped in a bin at the Strachan Avenue address.
The Crown also presented evidence of Bradford’s links to the phone number through calls to a Dundee taxi company and registration at a vet practice.
“What you are being asked to believe is that this is all just a series of remarkable coincidences,” Ms Dalziel added.
“That somehow, somebody has managed to assume Aaron Bradford’s identity. I am asking you to reject that.
“For all of these cross-checks just to be sheer coincidence it must be the whole universe conspiring against Aaron Bradford.”
Missing phone
Solicitor advocate Bob Mitchell, defending, told the jury that the forensic evidence against Bradford was “not overwhelming” and urged them to acquit his client.
“Police went there that day looking for certain things – very significant things – and they found none of them,” Mr Mitchell said in his closing speech.
“We heard from the expert that just breathing can leave your DNA. It’s his house that he’s lived in for years. His fingerprints are found on a blender in the kitchen, not the one in the garage, in the kitchen.
“If he was the one preparing drugs in this garage would you not expect more of his DNA?”
Other cars as well as a motorbike and electronic scooter were found at the address with Mr Mitchell insisting the discovery of the hydraulic press could suggest it was being used to work on vehicles.
He added: “Ultimately, having failed to find what they are looking for, the Crown are saying you should convict because one of the officers attributed a phone to Aaron Bradford. A phone that went missing along with (another man).”
Allegations
Bradford, of Strachan Avenue, denies being involved in serious organised crime at his home address between March 31 and June 15 2020 by agreeing with unknown people to use encrypted devices to communicate about obtaining and supplying drugs.
He allegedly concerned himself in the purchase and onward supply of cocaine, heroin, amphetamine, ecstasy, diazepam and cannabis and arranged for the collection and proceeds of the drugs.
A second charge alleges that Bradford was concerned in the supply of cocaine during the same period.
The Crown dropped an allegation as part of the serious organised crime charge that Bradford instructed a person to carry out surveillance services on his home. He was also acquitted of possessing cannabis.
The trial before judge Andrew Miller continues.
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