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‘Britain’s Pablo Escobar’ could walk out to hidden £200m fortune as he’s set for release
He is is expected to be released from prison as soon as November
A drug lord known as the Pablo Escobar of Britain is set for release after spending two decades behind bars.
Curtis Warren earned himself the reputation as ‘Liverpool’s most infamous gangster’ throughout the 1980s and 1990s, where he orchestrated international drug trafficking and money laundering equating to hundreds of millions of pounds.
Warren, who grew up in a deprived area of Toxteth, was even known to have links with the notorious Cali Cartel, and would eventually accumulate an estimated wealth of £200m.
Warren was somewhat celebrated in his trade; he became known for his photographic memory, which enabled him to memorise Swiss bank account numbers and telephone numbers without the need to write them down.
He even became the first drug dealer to make it onto The Sunday Times Rich List, where he was listed as a property developer with a £40 million fortune.
But his high life in the underworld wasn’t to last; Warren was first sentenced to twelve years in prison in 1996 for trying to move a £125million drugs shipment from the Netherlands to the UK, but was then given another four years for killing a fellow prisoner.
And just weeks after being released in 2007, Warren was again arrested for a plot to get drugs into Jersey, eventually being jailed for a further thirteen years.
But now, according to The Times, Warren is expected to be released as soon as November under a serious crime prevention order.
The order will be in force for five years, and will restrict him from buying cars and property, borrowing money, making bank transfers, holding trusts or shares and from using foreign or virtual currency.
It also bans him from living in or visiting Liverpool, where legend has it he has hidden £1million in plastic bags.
Prosecutors also believe Warren is sitting upon a fortune of £200m, which they believe he’s stashed in a secret location.
However, at his last sentencing in 2009, Warren insisted he had no money left, and failed to pay a £198m confiscation order that could have shaved ten years from his sentence.
But even if Warren does have money left over, he’ll have a hard time spending it thanks to the Serious Crime Prevention Order against him, which gives authorities the power to monitor the assets he has access to, both in the UK and abroad.
A set release date is yet to be granted.