Drug kingpins smuggled millions of pounds of cocaine and plotted murder

Telegraph

24-06-2025

A pair of drug kingpins plotted to murder a rival and smuggled millions of pounds worth of cocaine into the UK.
James Harding, 34, and his 'loyal right-hand man' Jayes Kharouti, 39, ran a vast criminal empire that made £5 million in profits from importing drugs over 10 weeks in 2020 alone.
They tried to recruit a hitman to put an unnamed rival courier 'permanently out of business', arming the would-be killer with a gun and ammunition for the 'full M' – a murder, the court was told.
On Tuesday, they were found guilty of conspiracy to murder, while Harding was also convicted of conspiring to import cocaine, which Kharouti, of Epsom, Surrey, had admitted.
They were remanded into custody to be sentenced on Thursday.
Three other members of the organised crime group had previously admitted drugs offences.
Their Old Bailey trial was held amid heightened security, with an armed police escort to and from the central London court and prison.
At the time the pair attempted to recruit the hitman, Harding, who claimed to be a high-end watch sales executive, was living in luxury in Dubai, staying in five-star hotels and driving Bugatti and Lamborghini sports cars.
The plot was scuppered by Scotland Yard officers who accessed the defendants' discussions on EncroChat and trawled through thousands of messages.
They were handed the data after French police smashed the encryption code to the service, which is favoured by the criminal underworld.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the trial the defendants discussed on EncroChat importing a tonne of cocaine over a period of 10 weeks.
The pair discussed the robbery of a drugs courier and Kharouti reported back on whether six or seven kilograms of cocaine had been delivered to a client the day before.
Mr Atkinson said it was Harding who first raised the idea of a 'cryp robbery' - taking drugs from a courier - which became a plan to kill a courier instead.
The defendants discussed how and where the murder would take place, with Kharouti offering the potential hitman £100,000, the court was told.
Kharouti kept his boss informed about the plan, which would involve a 'double tap' shot to the head and chest.
The alleged hitman was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in the early hours of June 3 2020, which the defendants were unaware of.
Kharouti increased the offer to £120,000, but an EncroChat user trying to locate an individual for him said the price should be no less than £200,000, the court was told.
Harding, who had previous convictions for drugs and false documents, was arrested at Geneva airport on December 27 2021 and extradited from Switzerland.
Kharouti was extradited from Turkey to the UK on June 25 last year.
The case formed part of a wider operation targeting criminals who used EncroChat.
Detective Chief Inspector Jim Casey, who led the investigation, said: 'This conviction sends a clear message: no matter how sophisticated the methods, criminals cannot hide behind encrypted software.
'This operation dismantled a major supply chain and is a testament to the relentless work of our officers.
'We monitored their drug-dealing activity but then we saw the group discussing the contract killing of a rival. We moved fast to protect those in danger.
'Harding and Kharouti planned to kill, we stopped that and put them before the courts.'
Detective Inspector Driss Hayoukane, who oversaw the Met's EncroChat operation, said: 'Thanks to the tenacity and commitment from Met officers, over 500 criminals have been successfully convicted since the EncroChat platform was cracked back in 2020, leading to well over 5,000 years of sentences being handed down to those involved.'
Previously, Calvin Crump, 29, of Redhill, Surrey; Khuram Ahmed, 38, of Slough; and Peter Thompson, 61, of south-west London, had admitted the cocaine conspiracy charge, while Thompson also pleaded guilty to possession a pistol. A man alleged to have been the proposed hitman was cleared.