A FLASHY crime lord was snared for a murder plot and major cocaine smuggling racket by his clothes and tattoos featured in selfies he posted from Dubai.
Drug baron James Harding, 34, masterminded a drug empire which made £5 million in profits during a 10-week period.
James Harding, 34, was the mastermind behind a drug empire[/caption]
Harding boasted of the luxury life he was living abroad[/caption]
He was arrested at Geneva airport and extradited to the UK[/caption]
But the vain villain took selfies of himself posing shirtless in front of the mirror flexing his muscles and sitting in supercars while living a life of luxury in the desert kingdom.
Harding sent the photos and messages about his opulent lifestyle to criminal cronies on the EncroChat encrypted mobile phone system believing it was totally secure.
But the swaggering poser’s boasts rebounded on him when the communication network was infiltrated by cyber cops in 2020.
Messages uncovered Harding’s cocaine empire – and his plan to rob and kill a rival drug courier.
Harding was yesterday convicted at the Old Bailey of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and of conspiracy to murder following a heavily-guarded eight-week trial.
His right hand man Jayes Kharouti, 39, earlier admitted the same drug offence and was also found guilty of the murder plot.
Jurors heard how Harding used the EncroChat handle ‘thetopsking,’ while Kharouti went under the tags ‘besttops’ and ‘topsybricks.’
They sent 9,136 messages to each other via EncroChat between March and June 2020, detailing their vast shipments of cocaine from the Netherlands into the UK, where it was distributed across the country.
The pair spelled out how they were laundering their money – as every message was read by Scotland Yard detectives following the penetration of the EncroChat platform by French law enforcement.
Harding, originally from Alton, Hampshire, and his lieutenant Kharouti were making £70,000 every day during the period their phones were being hacked by cops, jurors heard.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson, KC, said the pair were responsible for “approximately 50 importations of cocaine into the UK with a total weight of approximately 1,000 kilograms.”
He went on: “The messages also show that once the cocaine was in the UK, it was broken into smaller parcels, of between 5kg and 10kg, and distributed across the UK to wholesale purchasers, who would then sell to end users.
“An analysis of the messages that discuss money and financial gain suggests that the conspirators made £60-70,000 per importation, and about £5m in profit overall in just 10 weeks.”
The messages also revealed how Harding and Kharouti tried to hire a hitman for £100,000 to rob and kill a drug mule.
They arranged a gun and ammunition for a hitman to carry out the “full M” – murder, jurors heard.
Cops moved in and arrested the alleged hitman before the contract murder could be carried out.
Harding claimed in court he was not the EncroChat user known as ‘thetopsking’ – and claimed the handle belonged to a mystery gay lover he identified in court only as ‘TK.’
But cops were able to prove Harding was the ‘thetopsking’ because of his love for selfies and boasts about his luxury lifestyle.
A phone seized from an associate had a video showing Harding in the driver’s seat of a £2.5 million Bugatti Chiron car with a tattoo on his leg clearly visible.
There were pictures of him living it up in his lavish villa at The Nest development in Dubai, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a swimming pool and rooms for maids and drivers.
Harding lived there with Liverpudlian girlfriend Charli Wylde, 33, and her daughter Milly-Mai, 15, who he treated as his own.
There were photos Harding living it up in Dubai with his £2.5 million Bugatti[/caption]
The vain villain sent messages of himself sitting in the supercar[/caption]
Harding sent messages to his criminal cronies via an encrypted mobile phone system[/caption]
The court heard that on May 6, 2020, EncroChat user ‘thetopsking’ boasted to pals how he was taking his “Mrs” out that evening to Zuma, an award-winning Japanese restaurant in Dubai.
Investigations found that two days earlier Harding made the booking from a personal email account.
And eight days later ‘thetopsking’ boasted in messages how he was staying at the five-star Waldorf hotel in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, and sent an image of the hotel pool area via EncroChat.
Mr Atkinson said: “Enquiries with the Hilton Hotel Group showed that Harding stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in the United Arab Emirates and gave (his) mobile telephone number and produced a UAE identification card.
“During the stay, thetopsking had sent an image of James Harding relaxing on a sun lounger at, of all places, the Waldorf.”
One March 26 2020, thetopsking also wrote a message about how he had got back a Lamborghini Urus and sent an image of the dashboard.
Mr Atkinson said: “The person who took the image caught their leg in the photograph, and on that leg is a tattoo which matches the tattoo on James Harding’s leg.”
Kharouti’s home in Epsom, Surrey, was searched in 2020 after he was linked to the messages.
Police found a handset with the same number he gave to Harding.
He fled the country before being found in Turkey and extradited back to the UK.
Harding was arrested on 27 December 2021 at Geneva Airport, Switzerland, and from there Switzerland to the UK the following May.
The pair will be sentenced on Thursday.
Met Detective Chief Inspector Jim Casey, 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.”
Harding was previously jailed for nine years when he was aged 21 for running a drug racket.
Previously, Calvin Crump, 29, of Redhill, Surrey, was jailed for 13 years and six months while Khuram Ahmed, 38, of Slough, Berkshire, got 15-and-half-years after admitting conspiracy to smuggle cocaine.
Peter Thompson, 61, of South-West London, received 21 years after he pleaded guilty to the same drug charge and possessing a pistol.
A man alleged to have been the gang’s proposed hitman was cleared.
The drug kingpin made £5 million in profits in a 10 week period[/caption]
Packages of drugs smuggled in 2020[/caption]
Harding’s right hand man, Jayes Kharouti. fled to Turkey before being returned to the UK[/caption]
