Notorious drug lord Curtis 'Cocky' Warren, whose gang was once worth £200m, freed from jail after 14 years

23 November 2022, 10:36

A drugs baron who was known as Britain's Pablo Escobar has been freed from a maximum security prison after 14 years.

Curtis 'Cocky' Warren, 59, has been released from Whitemoor jail in Cambridgeshire - and he is said to be returning to Liverpool which was previously the base of his criminal empire.

His former drugs gang was previously believed to be worth £200million and he will now be subject to stringent restrictions. 

Warren is prohibited from using social media apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook and he must give officers 24 hours' notice before stepping into any friend's car.

He is banned from using WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger and must give his police handlers a day’s notice just to get in a friends car. Warren is also barred from holding cryptocurrency and has to give seven days’ notice if he wants to go to Scotland.

Failure to comply could put him back in jail for another five years, The Sun reports.

The NCA said: “Action against serious and organised criminals doesn’t end with a conviction.”

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After making links with a Colombian drug lord who could guarantee the best supply of cocaine into Britain, Warren built an empire that gained him vast riches and notoriety.

He was jailed in 2009 over plans to smuggle £1million of cannabis into Jersey.

Warren later had time added to his sentence after he failed to pay a £198million confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Warren is now said to be heading back to Merseyside, where he built his drugs empire.

A source close to him said: "Cocky always planned on coming back to Liverpool."

His barrister Anthony Barraclough said: "The first thing he wanted to do was to see his mother. He just wants peace and quiet. He is allowed to have a decent, ordinary life."