EXCLUSIVE: C Montana police mugshot revealed as London rapper facing 23-year jail term for drugs remains on the run

A British man who appeared in slick rap videos while running a sophisticated drugs importation operation that turned over 'more than £1 million a month' is being sought by police to serve a lengthy jail term he was sentenced to in his absence.

Arlten Lewis-Turner, 35, (both pictures above) known as C Montana to 34,000 Instagram followers, absconded after 'spending £700,000' on a series of unsuccesful legal challenges to try to get the charges dropped.

He was sentenced to 23 years in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court after being convicted of four counts of drug importation and supply charges after a trial held in his absence and without legal representation.

Lewis-Turner (below in police mugshot) was initially remaded into custody after his 2020 arrest, but later bailed by the court after six months.

He only absconded in October 2024 after losing a series of legal challenges to try to get the case against him dropped. 

He is believed to have initially fled to Dubai, according to an underworld source, but it his current location is unknown.

A Met Police spokesperson said: 'Arlten Lewis-Turner remains at large and enquiries to locate him are ongoing. We are actively seeking his whereabouts.'

Lewis-Turner featured in a number of YouTube rap videos, including ones called 'Drug Dealer' and 'Big Rich', before he was arrested by the Met Police in June 2020 as part of its investigations into the encrypted EncroChat mobile phone system used by tens of thousands of organised criminals largely across Europe.

He was later charged with one count each of conspiring to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of cocaine and heroin between April 1 and June 18 2020 and two further counts of conspiring to possess with intent to supply 10kgs of cocaine and 38kgs of heroin between the same period.

He was released on bail in December 2020, despite the CPS and Met Police opposing his release.

Footage released on Instagram at the time showed a jubilant Lewis-Turner greeted by friends outside HMP Thameside as they declared him 'fresh home.'

The EncroChat probe began after in April 2020 French cyber police infiltrated the server of the Dutch encrypted mobile phone system that was believed to be used by about 60,000 organised criminals.

Historic and ongoing call and message data was intercepted and provided to the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), which took on investigations and filtered other data down to local police forces such as the Met Police.

Lewis-Turner's legal team mounted a series of legal challenges over admissibility of the EncroChat evidence in British courts, which went as far as the European Court of Human Rights, but he absconded in October 2024 after these failed.

Shortly after his bail release he released the single 'Boss Is Back' in which he rapped: 'the boss got locked, the boss came back, the boss came back winning.'

Lewis-Turner also discussed his legal battle and time on remand in an interview first published on YouTube shortly after his release.

In one clip he said he had previously made between £100,000 and £300,000 a day trading stocks and shares.

In another he said he was innocent and spent £700,000 on legal fees with one of the best legal teams in the country, adding his five months on remand as a 'living hell'.

He said: 'I hope it won't go to trial. If I didn't pay for my legal fees, I would not have got bail... I don't know if I will end up in jail or be free or not.'

The court heard he was linked to an encrypted EncroChat device used to arrange the importation and supply of heroin and cocaine, by stage name C Montana and a distinctive neck chain.

It was after co-defendant Nagib Omar, 35, was arrested in possession of a total of 38kgs of heroin and 10kgs of cocaine on May 19 2020 after he was seen taking two holdalls from a block of flats in Hayes into a white Citroen Berlingo van.

Police estimated the seized cocaine was worth £350-380,000 wholesale with a street value of £800k-£1m, while the heroin was estimated at £570-760,000 wholesale with a retail value of £3,800,000.

Three phones, including a VSmart EncroChat phone, a Nokia and an iPhone, were also found.

The Berlingo van was later found to have a sophisticated remote-controlled hide in the rear storage area, behind the driver and front passenger seats and running almost the full width of the vehicle.

Found within more holdalls in the hide were half kilo packages of brown powder containing heroin.

More blocks of heroin were found inside the flat he exited, as well as digital scales, more than £38,000 cash, sales ledgers, a hydraulic press and plates and another EncroChat phone that could not be accessed, the court heard.

Prosecuting Tom Nicholson said: 'Further drug lists in (Omar's) possession, as well as Encrochat material, give a picture of a very large scale wholesale Class A drugs enterprise, with a turnover of over a million pounds a month.'

Omar pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine charges and acquiring and possessing criminal property on November 17 2023 was jailed for a total of 12 years.

Interrogation of Omar's EncroChat device found he used the handle 'adeptwaffle' and was working for another Encrochat user whose handle was 'thetrap', who was later found to be Lewis-Turner.

The court heard 'thetrap' was attributed to Lewis-Turner in a number of ways, including that it had a Dutch SIM card, which first connected to UK mobile networks on April 24 2020, the same day he flew into Heathrow Airport and was captured there on CCTV wearing a distinctive metal necklace seen in some of his rap videos.

When his home at the luxury Discovery Dock Apartments development at South Quay Square, Canary Wharf, was searched on June 18 2020, a 'distinctive gold necklace' with words 'Unique CM' was found along with three iPhones on the sofa, but no EncroChat device. Mr Nicholson said.

He said: 'We suggest he is known as 'C Montana' or 'Cash Montana' as part of his rap career. He is a modestly successful rapper and C Montana is another way of connecting 'thetrap' to Alton Lewis-Turner.

'It is the Prosecution case that the defendant was clearly and indisputably the person using ‘thetrap’ Encrochat handle, and that he was responsible for managing a very significant and lucrative multi-kilo commercial Class A drugs supply business.'

Mr Nicholson told the jury the flight into Heathrow had been booked in an email name including  'nevergiveupmontana' and the moniker for 'thetrap' from some of those to which he was a phone contact included the name 'C Montana', which he said was 'a recognised pseudonym used by Lewis-Turner, namely Cash Montana'.

Call data for the EncroChat phone used by 'thetrap' showed the main cell site used by it was near to the Discovery Dock Apartments.

On May 18 2020 at 3:31pm, the phone was found to be close to the Eurotunnel at Folkestone, around the same time that Lewis-Turner travelled through the Eurotunnel in a Range Rover that was registered to him and he was also seen in CCTV.

Mr Nicholson said messages between Omar, thetrap and other suppliers and purchasers exposed the scale of the operation.

He said: 'They illustrate that Omar, the user of the EncroChat phone, was involved in the high-level wholesale distribution of Class A drugs to a number of brokers and buyers using various EncroChat handles to purchase significant amounts of drugs.'

'This gives an idea of the scale of this enterprise, as do the accounting records, referring to a ‘tick total’, meaning credit extended to those purchasing drugs, of over £1m.'