Published:
2:18 PM May 28, 2021
Over £400,000 of suspected criminal cash was seized by the Organised Crime Partnership
- Credit: National Crime Agency
Over £400,000 of suspected criminal cash has been seized following an investigation into a drug supply network believed to be running their business over the encrypted comms platform EncroChat.
Investigators from the Organised Crime Partnership – a joint National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service unit – analysed thousands of EncroChat messages which referenced the movement of vast sums of cocaine and money throughout the UK.
Officers searched two flats on Wednesday (May 26) - one in Islington and one in Wembley - and seized over £200,000 in cash at each, some of which was packaged up and taped in block shapes.
Over £400,000 of suspected criminal cash has been seized in police raids of a Wembley and Islington flat this week thanks to an Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) encrypted comms investigation. Investigators from the OCP, a joint NCA and Metropolitan Police Service unit, uncovered a drug supply network believed to be running their business over the encrypted comms platform EncroChat. Through analysing thousands of EncroChat messages referencing the movement of vast sums of cocaine and money throughout the UK, they gained enough intel to conduct a raid on Wednesday 26 May and seized over £400,000 in cash at a Wembley and an Islington flat, roughly £200,000 in each.
Albanian nationals Altjon Gjoni, 38, of Canalside Square, Islington, and Bejar Cozminca, 30, of High Road, Wembley, have been charged with drug supply and money laundering offences.