A British drug lord who plotted the murder of a gangland rival from his luxury base in Dubai was convicted today after one of the biggest EncroChat investigations in history.
James Harding, 34, and his ‘loyal right-hand man’ Jayes Kharouti, 39, ran a vast criminal empire that made £5million 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 him with a gun and ammunition for the ‘full M’, meaning murder.
At the time, Harding, who claimed to be a high-end watch sales executive, was living in luxury at the The Nest apartment complex in Al Barari, 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 – where the kingpin had sent selfies on the same phone he used to arrange the hit.
They were handed the data after French police smashed the encryption code to the service favoured by the criminal underworld.
Harding and Kharouti’s Old Bailey trial was held amid heightened security, with an armed police escort to and from the central London court and prison.
They were today found guilty of conspiracy to murder while Harding was also convicted of conspiring to import cocaine, which Kharouti, of Epsom, Surrey, had already admitted.
Three other members of the organised crime group had previously admitted drugs offences.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the trial the defendants discussed on EncroChat importing a tonne of cocaine over a period of 10 weeks.
Harding used the nickname ‘thetopsking’, while Kharouti went by the handle ‘besttops’ and ‘topsybricks’.
In EncroChat messages 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 who told him it should involve a ‘double tap’ shot to the head and chest.
Despite a delay over transport for the hitman, the defendants worked on alternative solutions even arranging the shooting near to the proposed gunman’s home.
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 in Switzerland on December 27 2021 and extradited from Switzerland.
Kharouti was extradited from Turkey to the UK on June 25 last year.
Footage shows the moment Harding was arrested by counter terrorist specialist firearms officer at a London airport in May 2022 after being extradited from Switzerland on a private jet.
In the video, an officer says ‘Mr Harding, welcome back,’ to which the criminal replies: ‘Oh, thanks very much.’
Giving evidence, Harding denied using the handle ‘the topsking’, saying it belonged to an ‘intimate’ male partner called TK, who he refused to identify.
Judge Anthony Leonard told both men they face ‘substantial sentences.’
Mr Atkinson told an earlier court hearing that the pair were responsible for ‘approximately 50 importations of cocaine into the UK with a total weight of approximately 1,000 kilograms.
‘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,’ he said.
‘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.
‘In the context of that large-scale criminal enterprise [Harding] determined that an unnamed individual who was involved in the drug importation and distribution business had to be killed.’
Mr Atkinson said Kharouti contacted one of his associates, Calvin Crump, known as ‘brickmover’, asking for his help in sourcing a bike, or a dinger (stolen car) and a strap (gun), specifying a Glock pistol.
Crump, 29, then offered to source a gunman, the court heard.
Just 40 minutes later Kharouti contacted another associate who used the handle ‘notnice’ and asked him to provide a ‘shooter’ to undertake ‘full M’ – a murder.’
Jimmy Gottshalk, 37, known as ‘Notnice’, recruited Ematuwo, known as ‘randommist’, to shoot an unnamed individual, jurors heard.
Harding directed Kharouti as to when the hit should happen and made arrangements to get a the gun, the prosecutor said.
Kharouti described Harding as ‘the brains.’
Harding also used his EncroChat handle to book a table for his family at the Nusr et Steakhouse in Dubai – a creation of internet superstar Nusret ‘Salt Bae’ Gökçe.
The handle was linked with a number ending ‘9627’ which was used to book flights in Harding’s name to Dubai and Geneva in Harding’s name between 9 February and 4 March 2020.
He also booked a Mother’s Day meal at a restaurant at the Four Seasons resort in Dubai using the handle and bragged about taking his ‘mrs’ out to the Zumas Japanese restaurant using the same name.
In May 2020 ‘thetopsking’ messaged that he was staying at the Waldorf in Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah for the weekend and sent an image of the hotel pool.
Enquiries with the Hilton Hotel Group showed that Harding had indeed stayed at the Waldorf Astoria on that date.
Two other EncroChat users were told by ‘Thetopsking’ that he had been sentenced to nine years and eight years imprisonment when he was 21.
The prosecutor said: ‘Records show that Harding was sentenced to nine years and eight years imprisonment when he was 21 years and 8 months old…each of the details shared by ‘thetopsking’ therefore matched the position of Harding.’
Harding was first arrested by the Swiss Police at Geneva Airport on 27 December 2021.
He was extradited from Switzerland to the UK on 27 May 2022 and met by Met Police officers when he landed at Heathrow on a jet.
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.
‘This represents our commitment to combating illegal drug supply, as well as the serious violence that comes with it.
‘Our work doesn’t stop here – we will continue to pursue those who profit from bringing harm to our communities and will continue to deliver our mission of reducing crime.’
The pair were remanded to custody to be sentenced on Thursday.
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 with Thompson pleading guilty to possession of a pistol. A man alleged to have been the proposed hitman was cleared.
