A Barnet cocaine dealer who was found with kilos of the Class A drug inside his car in Hendon, north London, has been jailed.
Orest Malushi, 44, was jailed for two years and six months at St Albans Crown Court after confessing to possession with intent to supply alongside partner-in-crime, Olsian Vogli, 31, from Birmingham.
The court heard how officers from the National Crime Agency and Scotland Yard swooped on the pair as they were sitting in Malushi’s car in July last year after placing them under surveillance.
Vogli was seen entering and leaving a flat on Caversham Road, near Kentish Town, that he used as a stash house moments before the arrest.
More than £100,000 in cash and a mobile phone with several SIM cards were found after the apartment was searched.
Police searched a black rucksack he was carrying, which contained half a kilo of cocaine.
They also found three mobile phones and a further two-and-a-half kilos of cocaine which had been hidden inside a specially adapted hide in the glovebox of Malushi's car.
The pair pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply during previous hearings and were sentenced to two years and six months and five years and four months respectively at Harrow Crown Court on Tuesday.
Andrew Tickner, from the NCA’s Organised Crime Partnership, said: "The cocaine supplied by Olsian Vogli and Orest Malushi was clearly generating large profits for the organised crime group they belonged to, as shown by the amount of cash we found in the apartment.
"The hide in Malushi’s car was ultimately a futile attempt to conceal his criminality, but shows the time and attention that drug suppliers will put into their criminal profession.
"The class A drugs trade fuels gang violence and suffering in the UK, which is why the NCA and Met Police’s strong partnership is at the forefront of dismantling the organised criminal groups behind it."
