In another mooted scheme, Bennett and McQuade communicated via the service as they sought to ship 300kg of cocaine into the Port of Liverpool from Brazil.

Bennett told the user "SinCityGold" in one message on April 26: "They done one a few months ago, 150 on it."

Another port operative, "middle man" Kevin Murphy, was referred to as "nephew" by Bennett "because of familial relations, although he was not actually his nephew".



Ms Snowdon said: "Mr Murphy was aware of the nature of Mr Bennett's business with Paul McQuade and the fact that they communicated via encrypted handles.

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"Mr Murphy acted as a facilitator of communication between Bennett and McQuade in connection with their plans to import cocaine.

A day later, Bennett was involved in the handover of 2kg of cocaine to McQuade for a price of £37,000 per kilo "as an incentive to cement their business relationship".

Full Flock and Bennett also discussed potential importation routes from Ecuador and Costa Rica, while McQuade advised his co-defendant over the "best containers to use to avoid the consignment being intercepted by the port authorities".

McQuade added that "working with Brazil was a nightmare" and said: "Prob opened five boxes from there and been nothing in them."

He also described having "done a job a few years ago from Ecuador", smuggling drugs into the port in a container of tinned tuna.

The messages ended on June 5 2020, when Full Flock told Bennett he was "waiting to hear from Brazil, who had told him they would load tonight".

McQuade was also implicated in a further plot to smuggle drugs in via the port during 2021.