A British man arrested on the Costa del Sol for leading a major international arms-trafficking network has been sentenced in the UK.
Philip Waugh, 40, was given 26 years and eight months in prison, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Waugh was detained in September 2024 at a luxury villa in Benahavis during a joint operation between Spain’s Policia Nacional and the NCA.
Following his extradition to Britain, he appeared before Liverpool Crown Court in April, where he admitted multiple firearms offences and one count of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
Investigators said Waugh plotted with an organised-crime associate to blind a man in an acid attack – a plan that was thwarted thanks to intercepted communications.
Weapons offered on encrypted phone network
The case dates back to 2020, when British agents monitoring the encrypted network EncroChat identified a user operating under the alias Aceprospect.
Messages revealed that the account was offering an arsenal of automatic and semi-automatic weapons to criminal groups across Europe – including AK-47 assault rifles, Skorpion and Uzi submachine guns, pistols and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Digital forensics and cross-border intelligence work later traced the account to Waugh, who was allegedly coordinating the import of weapons into the UK. His associate Robert Brazendale handled domestic distribution once the shipments arrived.
Sentences across the network
Brazendale, described as Waugh’s right-hand man, had already been jailed in 2022 for 11 years and three months for firearms trafficking, a sentence later reduced to ten years on appeal.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to further offences linked to Waugh’s network, earning an additional 11 years and four months behind bars.
During Waugh’s trial, prosecutors detailed the ‘extreme violence’ of his plans, citing messages in which he told an accomplice to ‘double the dose’ and ‘cook’ the intended victim with acid.
From Thailand to the Costa del Sol
Before moving to southern Spain, Waugh is believed to have lived in Thailand, where local authorities had already raised concerns with British law enforcement about his activities.
His arrest in Spain capped a long-running multinational investigation that dismantled a significant section of the black-market arms trade supplying UK criminal gangs.
The court noted that Waugh’s guilty plea led to a one-third reduction in sentence, but described his actions as among the most serious firearms offences seen in recent years.
Read more Costa del Crime news at the Spanish Eye.
