AT the peak of their success, drug baron James Harding and his ‘loyal right-hand man’ Jayes Kharouti ran an unlimited £100million felony empire – raking in a staggering £70,000 a DAY.
Now, Harding and his cohorts have been jailed for plotting the homicide of a gangland rival from his luxurious base in Dubai after cops blew open one of many greatest EncroChat investigations in historical past.
Central InformationCybercops tracked down drug lord James Harding by way of his useless selfies[/caption]
PAHarding’s henchman Jayes Kharouti was jailed after plotting to homicide a rival[/caption]
PACops discovered Harding had hidden cocaine value thousands and thousands of kilos[/caption]
When cyber cops snared Harding, 34, who claimed to be a high-end watch gross sales government, he was dwelling in luxurious on the The Nest condominium complicated in Al Barari, Dubai, staying in five-star accommodations and driving Bugatti and Lamborghini sports activities vehicles.
The flashy narco’s illicit enterprise empire made a staggering £5million in simply ten weeks, but it surely emerged he was ready to do something to maintain his strangehold on the cocaine commerce.
Alongside along with his henchman Kharouti, 39, he hatched an evil plot to homicide a rival, going as far as to attempt to rent a hitman for £100,000.
However the pair have been scuppered by Scotland Yard detectives who cracked open the EncroChat messaging system – and tracked down the kingpin utilizing useless shirtless selfies he had snapped on the identical telephone he used to rearrange the hit.
On the platform favoured by underworld criminals, Harding used the nickname ‘thetopsking’, whereas Kharouti glided by the deal with ‘besttops’ and ‘topsybricks’.
The pair, who have been jailed on the Outdated Bailey this week, make an unlikely narco double act – with Harding insisting he was no assassin, however quite a suppressed gay concerned in a weird love triangle, who had been bullied in school over his facial deformities.
He denied utilizing the deal with ‘thetopskiing’, claiming as a substitute it was really utilized by his secret male lover.
In the meantime, The Solar can reveal Kharouti is an Afghan nationwide who travelled to Britain as an asylum seeker within the Nineties along with his mom – and has beforehand been busted over a nightclub medication trafficking ring.
In 2008 Kharouti, from Wallington in Surrey, was sentenced to 4 years in jail after pleading responsible to supplying greater than half a kilo of cocaine to nightclubs throughout London.
Utilizing 5 completely different aliases, and 5 completely different dates of start, he made £200,000 in simply 18 months, with hundreds of kilos discovered stashed inside a milkshake carton at his residence.
Cops raided his residence and unearthed greater than £4,000 in money – £1,000 stashed in his bed room and £3,000 tucked a field in a kitchen cabinet.
Officers additionally searched his automotive and located a staggering 620g of cocaine with a road worth estimated at round £34,000.
However after being launched from jail he fashioned a murky friendship with Harding, who had been born with hemifacial microsomia, a situation inflicting the left facet of his face to be under-developed.
He endured a number of surgical procedures as a toddler and teenager to right a deformed left ear, cheek and jaw.
“I used to be alienated by everybody in school due to it,” he confessed at his Outdated Bailey trial, which ended this week.
Jurors heard Harding had emotions for “girls and boys” as a youngster, however “suppressed” his gay needs.
PAHarding mentioned he was born with hemifacial microsomia, a situation inflicting the left facet of his face to be under-developed[/caption]
Central InformationHarding revealed he was attracted to ladies and boys and bullied in school[/caption]
Central InformationDrug lord Harding raked in £5m in simply ten weeks whereas having fun with a lifetime of luxurious in Dubai[/caption]
PAHarding despatched snaps on EncroChat of himself on the Waldorf Lodge in Ras Al Khaimah[/caption]
As a youngster, Harding, who grew up in Hampshire, started to promote authorized highs to make cash.
He marketed the medication utilizing on-line categorized adverts.
However the rip-off backfired and in August 2012 he was arrested and charged with medication offences and possession of false ID paperwork.
In his bombshell Outdated Bailey this month, Harding returned to his childhood struggles for a unprecedented and elaborate defence.
PACops discovered boastful selfies medication baron Harding took in his Bugatti Chiron supercar[/caption]
PAKharouti couldn’t resist sending selfies utilizing EncroChat resulting in his downfall[/caption]
PAA particular tattoo on Kahrouti’s proper hand confirmed his true id[/caption]
PAHarding was arrested at Geneva airport and extradited to the UK for a trial[/caption]
The courtroom had beforehand heard from cops that Harding used the deal with ‘thetopskiing’ whereas hatching plans on EncroChat.
In a exceptional twist, Harding insisted he didn’t use the deal with – however was sleeping with the person who did.
Harding’s lawyer Clare Montgomery KC defined: “He (Harding) has for a very long time been too ashamed to confess, and has at all times needed to maintain non-public, till this case has compelled him to disclose his secret life.
“That secret is that he had an intense and sexual relationship with ‘thetopsking’.”
Earlier than he was despatched to jail the primary time, Harding had fathered a toddler in 2010.
His relationship with the little woman’s mom broke down whereas he was in jail – when she apparently instructed Harding that he was not the kid’s organic father.
However when Harding was launched from jail in 2016 his ex-girlfriend contacted him to apologise for the best way she had handled him.
That secret is that he had an intense and sexual relationship with ‘thetopsking’
Clare Montgomery KC
“I’d at all times felt rejected,” he moaned. “And I needed to know why she would go away me like that.
“She defined to me she wouldn’t have simply left me for anybody. Her daughter’s dad had obtained again into contact along with her and needed to rebuild a relationship along with his daughter.”
Regardless of this, Harding mentioned he went on to rekindle his relationship with the mom and he or she and her daughter moved into his residence in Alton, Hampshire.
However three years later, he claimed his girlfriend and her daughter left the UK and moved to Dubai the place the actual father, ‘thetopskiing’ , was dwelling.
PAThe pair have been smuggling thousands and thousands of kilos value of cocaine into the UK[/caption]
PACops confiscated packages of medication following the investigation[/caption]
Harding later joined them – and recalled how HE fell for the thriller man too.
He mentioned he at all times discovered ‘thetopskiing’ or TK, handsome and charming, however issues modified after a boozy evening out on the finish of 2019.
“We went to brunch at a spot referred to as Mama Zonia in Dubai, and after {that a} group of us went again to TK’s villa, and after a while individuals have been leaving,” he mentioned.
“TK and I have been consuming, and consuming rather a lot, and we ended up changing into intimate.
“I wasn’t pleased with myself in any respect. I felt disgusted with myself.”
Harding claimed he was taken benefit of and utilized by ‘thetopskiing’ to ebook flights and eating places.
PACops discovered bundles of money discovered within the boot of considered one of their vehicles[/caption]
PAPolice additionally seized piles of money and a counting machine[/caption]
Regardless of his denials, cops since proved that in truth Harding was ‘thetopskiing’ following a significant cyber investigation.
Harding gave away his true id by means of a collection of boastful selfies which confirmed his face, distinctive clothes and tattoos.
They have been capable of show that he and Kharouti had teamed as much as import huge portions of medication.
Their messages from 2020 revealed that “thetopsking” instructed different customers when “lands” of cocaine have been going to occur, and offered them with co-ordinates to gather the medication near Dover, the place they’d entered the UK by lorry.
Consequently Harding was arrested at Geneva Airport in Switzerland in December 2021, and extradited again to the UK.
His United Arab Emirates residence allow gave his career as a gross sales government of luxurious watches.
His second in command Kharouti was extradited from Turkey to the UK final June.