A FORMER borough businessman and pub owner, currently serving a 21 year jail sentence for drug dealing, has had assets worth more than £400,000 seized by police.

Simon Renoldi was a high profile local figure who ran the Railway Tavern in Stanford-le-Hope among his business interests and was once promotions manager at the now defunct East Thurrock United football club. He was jailed in January last year.

Renoldi, 55, and his fellow drug baron Iain Green were caught by police officers who cracked the code of the encrypted global communication service EncroChat to reveal the duo's role in the supply of bulk volumes of drugs in Essex in 2020 and 2021.

Now, after extensive work by the Essex Police Proceeds of Crime Team financial investigators, using their powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), the pair have seen assets of £1,039,748.08 confiscated between them - £430,330.41 from Renoldi and £609,417.67 from Green.

This money will now be distributed between His Majesties' Courts, The Crown Prosecution Service, Home Office and Essex Police as well as charitable causes by the Essex Community Foundation - and used to fund the fight against crime and improve the safety of local communities.

Financial Investigator Mark Finbow of the Proceeds of Crime Team said: "It's crucial crime doesn't pay. It's why we work so hard and well after criminals are sentenced to make sure they get no benefit from their ill-gotten gains and deprive them of anything we can prove was the result of criminality.

"In this case we seized cash and highly-valuable assets connected to the suspects, and painstaking work through collected evidence and financial records showed this could only have come from drug dealing.

"This is a million pounds out of the hands of offenders which will make its way to agencies and projects that help people in our county, or even into work to help us stop more criminals."

Since 2016, international law enforcement agencies have worked together to target EncroChat and agencies in France and the Netherlands infiltrated the platform.

Under the aliases 'Typicalknee' and 'Harshwater' respectively, Renoldi and Green were part of a supply chain involving kilos of cocaine, MDMA and ketamine and cannabis in the UK.

After a lengthy investigation led by specialist officers within the Essex force's Serious Organised Crime Unit, Renoldi was arrested in June 2021 and Green arrested a month later.

Police found almost £75,000 in cash alone across multiple warrants connected to the pair, as well as evidence of hundreds of thousands of pounds more in drug dealing transactions.

In 2025 Renoldi, formerly of High Road in Fobbing, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for two counts conspiracy to commit cocaine, conspiracy to supply ecstasy and two counts of conspiracy to supply a Class B drug.

Green, 56, formerly of Roland Park Avenue in Westcliff, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply ecstasy, and conspiracy to supply a Class B drug (cannabis).

Speaking at the sentencing, Detective Inspector Yoni Adler of serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: "We work every day to tackle those involved in organised criminal activities and our message is clear – if you think you can commit crime in Essex and get away with it, you're wrong and we'll put you behind bars."