Ex-Liverpool footballer jailed for eight years over drug dealer's £6m cocaine racket

dailystar.co.uk:

Liverpool footballer has been jailed for eight years over his connections to a drug dealer's £6million cocaine racket.Retired Welsh midfielder Layton Maxwell made just one appearance for the Reds after coming through the club's academy, scoring against Hull City back in September 1999.

As he fell down the football pyramid after leaving Liverpool, Maxwell later joined a cocaine gang, with a court hearing that he allowed them to use his home as a safehouse.There, the gang stored drugs in a £6million racket, where organised crime agents found more than 60 kilos of cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin.READ MORE: Liverpool star Diogo Jota to miss World Cup as Jurgen Klopp confirms 'sad news'Officers also discovered £2.5million in cash and weighing equipment after carrying out a raid at Maxwell's Cardiff home.

Prosecutors revealed that he was banking £500-per-month by working as a "courier" for the gang.Maxwell had been arrested as part of Operation Venetic, which saw millions of pounds worth of drugs and cash seized by the authorities.A series of raids were carried out after officers from the National Crime Agency infiltrated an encrypted messaging service used by the gang.Their thwarting of the EncroChat is said to have revealed an "Aladdin's cave" of evidence against some of the world's most dangerous criminals, who also planned killings and boasted of cutting limbs off their rivals.The 43-year-old former footballer was one of eight defendants to be jailed for a total of 80 years at Cardiff Crown Court.

More members of the gang are still to receive sentences.Maxwell, of Rhiwbina, Cardiff, had admitted to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, with Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke describing the gang's activity as a "dirty tirade.