Anti-lockdown gym owner revealed to be 'professional drug dealer'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A gym owner's drug smuggling plan was busted when police discovered text messages in which he told an associate how to 'clean' his dirty money.

Nicholas Whitcombe, who was fined for refusing to close his Body Tech Fitness site during lockdown when leisure facilities were required to shut, was described by a judge as a "professional drug dealer".

His role in the scheme was exposed via an investigation by Jersey's customs and immigration department, as reported by Liverpool Echo.Jersey's Royal Court heard how Whitcombe worked alongside Anthony Andrew Dryden in a plot that was valued at more than £54,000.

Between 2018 and 2019 the duo, both aged 31, were involved in a plot to traffic cannabis resin into the island and launder the money, with Whitcombe operating the scheme from Merseyside and Dryden from Jersey.Prosecutors said Whitcombe would source the drugs and instruct people to send them from England to a third party at their work address in Jersey.The packages were then picked up by Dryden, who sold them, collected the cash and sent it back to UK addresses provided by Whitcombe.Between June and September of 2018 a total of 3.1kg was imported into Jersey and three exports of cash were sent out, totalling £16,750.There appeared to be a "cooling off" period after contacts of Whitcombe sent a package to the wrong address before, in December 2018, Whitcombe told Dryden he was handing the UK side of their scheme over to a friend.Using that contact Dryden then imported an estimated 500g to 1kg of cannabis in March 2019, and thanked Whitcombe for helping to set up the new supply line.In June 2019, Dryden was also involved in importing 451.69g of cannabis resin alone.Dryden was arrested the following month, and his mobile