Marcus Brookfield was sentenced to eight years in prison in March 2022 after investigators discovered he was using the EncroChat mobile phone platform to buy blocks of cocaine worth tens of thousands of dollars per kilogramme.
When law enforcement in France and the Netherlands cracked the illegal service, they were able to capture data from thousands of devices across Europe, which they then shared with the National Crime Agency.
Further investigation by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate revealed the scope of Brookfield’s crimes.
A review of Brookfield’s finances revealed that he had profited nearly half a million pounds from his criminal activity and had assets totalling around £78,000 that he could pay back. This includes a portion of a home’s equity, cash, and other seized items such as watches and gold coins.
On Friday 10 February 2023, the assets were subject to a confiscation order at Maidstone Crown Court, which means Brookfield, formerly of Forest Road, Paddock Wood, now has three months to pay the money back or will spend another year in prison and still have to pay.
‘Marcus Brookfield may have referred to himself as a samurai, but he had a fighting chance of keeping the identified assets earned through the harmful sale of class A drugs,’ said Detective Inspector David Godfrey of the Economic Crime Unit.
This result does not signal the end of our interest in his finances, as the Proceeds of Crime Act allows us to continue to seize any further assets he comes into possession of in the future until the entire half a million pounds he earned is paid back.
Drugs ruin people’s lives, and Brookfield profited handsomely from their misery. We have a low tolerance for such behaviour and will not hesitate to prosecute offenders like him.’
