TWO men have been jailed after attempting to smuggle 600kg of cannabis into Northern Ireland by hiding it within crates of broccoli.
Hazar Koz, 41, of North Finchley, London and Lee Huseyin, 52, of Stepney Green, London planned to sell the drugs to a criminal gang in the North.
Messages between the two revealed that, over several months, they had smuggled more than a tonne of class B drugs worth £2m from Spain and Morocco into Britain.
The drugs were concealed within consignments of fruit and vegetables.
Huseyin and Koz pleaded guilty to multiple drugs offences at Harrow Crown Court on October 30, 2022 and February 16, 2023 respectively.
Meanwhile, Koz was later convicted for his role in commissioning the shooting of a rival.
At the same court on Friday, Koz was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment and Huseyin was sentenced to six years.
Belfast discovery
Koz and Huseyin discussed their conspiracy on Encrochat — the encrypted communications platform taken down after a Europe-wide law enforcement investigation in 2020.
Koz, using the handle Obsceneraptor, used his knowledge of the fruit and vegetable wholesale trade to make the ventures appear legitimate, using established routes from overseas to London.
Huseyin would handle the logistics, ensuring that vehicles arrived safely at London markets and the drugs unloaded ahead of onward supply to other parts of Britain.
Huseyin, left, was sentenced to six years while Koz received a 16-year sentence (Images: National Crime Agency)The pair's undoing came after a Lithuanian lorry was stopped by police on the outskirts of Belfast in June 2020.
It was searched and found to contain 585 bags of cannabis concealed in low-quality broccoli.
Encrochat messages between Koz and Huseyin later showed that they had arranged the importation and planned to supply the drugs to a criminal gang in Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, a month prior, Koz had planned to take revenge on an associate who had made £500,000 using his contacts.
He asked another Encrochat user whether they had ‘anyone to fire a couple of shots’ below the waist.
The pair were arrested in May 2022 by officers from the Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) – a joint National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service unit.
Both were charged with offences relating to the importation of cannabis, while Koz was separately charged with conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
'Ruthlessness'
"These men ran a large-scale drug importation operation [and] brazenly discussed their criminality on the Encrochat platform in the belief they would never be caught," said OCP manager Andrew Tickner.
"Koz ordering the shooting of a rival demonstrates the ruthlessness of criminals involved in the illegal drugs trade, and the violence that fuelled by their activities — be it in London or anywhere else in the UK.
"We continue to work tirelessly to protect the UK public from organised crime groups like this one."
