London-based drugs racket stopped
24 Mar 2015 01:04 PM
An Albanian drugs ring which laundered hundreds of thousands of pounds has been sentenced to a total of 53 years.
The eight men, who operated out of several rented flats in south west London, were the focus of an investigation by the Organised Crime Partnership, a team of officers from the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service.
The first arrests were made on 17th September 2014, when officers arrested Albert Krasniqi as they were on way to a suspected cash drop-off at a house in Gaynes Hill Road, Chigwell. Krasniqi tried to run away but was arrested, and officers found more than €550,000 in a bag.
He was travelling with Olsin Llanga and Bledar Vranari, who were stopped and arrested later that day. Their car was searched by Border Force officers who found a sophisticated concealment behind the dashboard, which the group is believed to have used to transport drugs and money through borders without detection.
Five more members of the group were arrested on the same day:
- Surveillance officers had watched Bledar Kellici, 26, walking into a house in Warwick Way, Pimlico, carrying a Sainsburys bag filled with cash with Llanga earlier that day. Officers searched the house – occupied by Enrik Mullahi, 27 – and found €18,785 and a heat sealing machine used to seal the banknotes into plastic bags. These bags of cash had then been given to Llanga to deliver to Chigwell. Mullahi was arrested at the property.
- Kellici and Taulant Bushi, 37, were at Llanga’s house in Cricklewood, Broadway, when officers arrived to search it. The pair flushed a brown substance down the shower and toilet and tried to hide their stained clothes in a laundry basket. Officers found £5,000 in a wardrobe, which Kellici tried to pass off as his earnings as a DJ and football coach. The brown substance was analysed and was found to be a mixture of paracetamol and caffeine - cutting agents regularly used in the distribution of heroin. Both were arrested at the house.
- Two kilograms of cocaine was found hidden in Primark bags in another property linked to Llanga in Belvedere Court, Kings Avenue.
- In total, five properties in South West London were linked to the group, with the lettings arranged by Artur Sufaj, 36. Officers arrested him when they searched one of the properties – a flat in Claverton Street – where they found £1,500 and €2500 in cash.
- An eighth man, Aurel Hoxha, 27,was arrested when officers found cocaine and scales at another one of the gang’s properties – a one bedroom flat in Churton Street.
All eight pleaded guilty to possessing Class A drugs with the intent to supply and money laundering. All, except for Bledar Vranari, appeared for sentencing at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday 20th March. Vranari will be sentenced on 1st April.
Detective Inspector Steven Miles from the Organised Crime Partnership said: “The group had set up a complex network of properties and delivery systems which they thought allowed them to operate under the radar.
“It’s rare to take out every layer of a gang, especially one as complex as this, but that’s exactly what we’ve done. All eight guilty pleas speak volumes about the work the Organised Crime Partnership is doing.”
Albert Krasniqi also pleaded guilty to a separate Organised Crime Partnership investigation – the supply of 14kgs of cocaine in cool bags in the back of a mini-cab with Mirsad Brahimi, 28, from St Johns Wood, in March 2014. The pair had picked the drugs up from Romford. Brahimi pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and money laundering and was sentenced to 10 years. Co-conspirators Bledar Doka, 32, from Picton Place, London, and his girlfriend Brunlida Krasniqi, 35 (no relation to Albert) received 18 and three years respectively. Krasniqi was found guilty of money laundering and mortgage fraud. Doka was found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Sentences:
Olsin LLANGA, 19/01/1987 10.8 years
Albert KRASNIQI, 07/11/1987 6 years
Bledar VRANARI, 15/06/1980 - awaits sentencing after Newton Hearing on 1st April.
Blendi KELLICI, 25/07/1988 6 years
Enrik MULLAHI, 03/07/1985 8 years
Taulant BUSHI, 02/05/1977 6 years
Aurel HOXHA, 23/04/1985 6 years
ARTOR SUFAJ, 01/10/1978 10.8 years