Three men have been jailed for a total of 11 years after police smashed a major North Yorkshire drug dealing operation which was run directly from Albania.
Ervin Shehu, 29, from York, Jah Kastrati, 31, and Azem Lekica, 28, ran the street-dealing operation in Scarborough, but their bosses in the east-European country were the ones directing operations and sending out “broadcast” messages to customers in the town from a “drugs line” in Albania.
Jailing the three Albanian nationals at York Crown Court yesterday (Sunday), judge Sean Morris said he had never seen such a case where a major drug plot had been run directly by criminals – or perhaps one individual – operating in a foreign country.
Prosecutor Henry Fernandez said that Shehu, Kastrati and Lekica were involved in a “significant street-dealing operation in Scarborough which was run by a drugs line located in Albania”.
He added: “It appears to an extent that Shehu and Lekica must have been acting under direction of somebody or a group in Albania”.
The operation was smashed on 4 June when police conducted a surveillance operation in Scarborough and spotted Lekica dealing drugs to a van driver and an “unknown woman” outside a property in Somerset Terrace near the foreshore.
Two hours later, at about 2.30pm, Lekica was seen using a key to enter a flat in Albion Crescent, shortly after which police officers converged on the address following another suspected drug deal.
They found 273 sealed bags of cannabis ready for sale and worth up to £9,550.
Mr Fernandez said that during the drug plot, about 10,600 messages had been sent to potential customers from a mobile-phone number or “drug line” in Albania.
Police used another key seized from Lekica to search the flat in Somerset Terrace where he had been spotted earlier that day.
They found Shehu standing in the doorway to one of the rooms, inside which they found dealer bags of cannabis, 79 wraps of cocaine, phones, SIM cards and identity documents.
In a second bedroom, they found cocaine worth between £3,100 and £3,900, another phone, cash, grip-lock bags and weighing scales.
However, that was just the tip of the iceberg, because on the roof of the property they found a kilo of cocaine worth up to £91,000 if sold on the street.
Kastrati was seen leaving that address at about 3.30pm and was followed by officers to Scarborough Station where he was caught with a wrap of cocaine hidden in a sock.
Kastrati, of no fixed address, told officers he had been recruited by the other two and was only involved in the operation for three days, and that he was paid just £50 on each of those days for his involvement.
The three men were each charged with being concerned in the supply of cannabis and cocaine and possessing criminal cash. They each pleaded guilty to the offences and appeared for sentence today.
Mr Fernandez said that Lekica and Shehu were “in charge of local operations” and acting “under the orders of someone or a group in Albania running a drugs line”.
“They had substantial stock and it seems they supplied many people and they generated a substantial sum of cash,” added the prosecutor.
He said that in 2021, Lekica was jailed for two years for supplying cannabis in the UK.
Shehu – whose last registered address was in Lawrence Street, York – had two previous convictions for driving matters and Kastrati had a hitherto clean record.
Defence barrister Nick Hammond, for Shehu, said it was an “unusual” case because “this operation was being run in Albania”, adding: “I haven’t come across that before.”
He said that Shehu, who was educated to university level, came to the UK about two years ago after receiving threats in Albania.
“While in Albania he was working as an auditor,” added Mr Hammond.
“His career was relatively successful until he received the threats. He came to this country and became involved in this operation to sustain himself as he had no other way of earning money.”
Sean Smith, for Lekica, said his client was “very much being directed from above”.
Jordan Millican, for Kastrati, said that his client had been “industrious” since arriving in the UK, having worked in construction and as a carpenter.
“However, it didn’t pay him very well, which led him in this venture,” added the barrister.
Judge Mr Morris, the Recorder of York, told the defendants: “You are an Albanian drugs gang. Unusually in this case, there was a lot of contact back to Albania.
“You, Shehu, and you, Lekica, were very important players and this investigation by police resulted in the seizure of a very substantial amount of cocaine and it was very good police work.”
He added: “Cocaine on this country is wreaking havoc and people who think it’s a party drug should understand it’s criminals who profit from it, so when people snort it up their nose, they are supporting a criminal network.
“It’s tempting to throw the book at all of you, but it is right to observe that the main organiser of the sales in this case was, unusually, still based in Albania, so I will temper the sentence to some extent because of that.
“Also, the longer the sentence, the more the British taxpayer has to pay (to keep the defendants in a UK jail) and the quicker you three are shipped back to Albania, the better.”
Shehu was jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Lekica was jailed for four years and eight months, a slightly longer sentence because of his previous conviction for drug-dealing in the UK.
Kastrati – whose basis of plea that he was recruited by the other two was accepted by the Crown – was jailed for 20 months.
Mr Morris told the defendants that “as soon as your sentences are served you should be deported back to Albania”.