Rapper Champaz jailed for heroin and cocaine trafficking

• An English rapper has been jailed for drug trafficking.
• What did Champaz do?
• What’s behind the rapper’s crime.

Rayal Eastwood, 38, better known as Champaz, has been jailed along with Zadengel Raphael, 41, and Dakarai Thomas, 37, after the three conspired to supply heroin and cocaine to several cities in the United Kingdom, mainly in London.

The trio used EncroChat, a phone messaging service used by criminals, as they believed the app provided hidden conversations that could not be traced by police. However the officers managed to infiltrate their encrypted conversations about drug deals.

A scandal in London!

Rayal Eastwood, whose stage name is Champaz, used the EncroChat encrypted network to set up big drug deals in Birmingham and London before spending the money on flash engines. This crime was committed with two other men, who were also arrested.

Unbeknownst to them, and thousands of other criminals who use the service that prevents them from being easily tracked, law enforcement agencies in Europe had developed a technique to collect data from EncroChat. FILED UNDER: Rayal Eastwood Champaz

The money they made dealing drugs

Information was sent to West Midlands detectives, who identified users using the handles «Moralracer» and «Regentcliff» as Eastwood and Thomas. They discussed arranging to supply kilograms of heroin and cocaine for between £37,000 and £40,000 to other EncroChat users in London.

Police arrested Eastwood at his home in Oxhill Road, Handsworth, on July 15 last year and seized £53,950 in cash. Raphael was arrested at his home in Colchester last October. Police recovered £6,000 in cash plus bank statements. FILED UNDER: Rayal Eastwood Champaz

Champaz pleaded guilty

Thomas was arrested on November 4 at his home in Gannahs Farm Close, Sutton Coldfield, West Mids. He attempted to destroy his phones when officers forced entry onto his property, but they were recovered and were shown to be the same phones used by ‘Regentcliff’.

Officers also seized a gold Rolex watch valued at £14,000. All three admitted to conspiracy to supply drugs between December 2017 and July 2020 and were sentenced today to a combined 32 years. FILED UNDER: Rayal Eastwood Champaz

The drug traffickers receive their sentences

According to the Daily Mail, Eastwood was sentenced to 16 years, Raphael got 10 years, and Thomas received six years and nine months in prison at the Birmingham Crown Court. The scandal has shocked the UK.

Detective Constable Daniel Wilson of West Midlands Police said: «These were very big players injecting large quantities of Class A drugs into our communities and causing untold misery and damage.» FILED UNDER: Rayal Eastwood Champaz