Eleven members of a Albanian gang involved in a plot to supply cannabis on a huge scale have been jailed for a combined total of 37 years.
The total value of the conspiracy is estimated to be over £1 million, street value with offenders operating cannabis farms in Ashford, Canvey Island and Hertfordshire between August 2019 and August 2020.
More than 485 plants were also seized during a complex investigation carried out by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate. A further half kilo of the harvested drug was also seized, as well as cash in excess of £61,000.
The men were jailed at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday 29 October 2021, and a further offender is due to appear at the same court for an additional hearing on Friday 19 November.
The conspiracy to supply cannabis began to unravel on 8 October 2019, when Kent Police’s Roads Policing Unit stopped a car travelling on the M20 near Maidstone.
The driver of the vehicle was Drilon Dishi, and inside officers found a notepad, which was being used as a ledger.
Details of the criminal operation were obtained from the handwritten notes, with checks on his seized mobile phone providing investigators with further lines of enquiry.
Dishi was taken into custody and admitted the documents were his, but claimed they detailed ‘little jobs’ he had done on a farm in his native Albania.
He denied that the names of several people on the sheet were the identities of co-offenders and claimed that the name ‘Hekri’, referring to Hekuran Perhati, was in fact a name for a metal.
A search of his property also led to £25,560 in criminally gained cash being seized and, despite his protestations of innocence, Dishi was initially charged with being concerned in the production of cannabis.
He was remanded in custody but later released on court bail before he was further arrested as part of the wider conspiracy uncovered in August 2020.
Further enquiries
The ledger seized from Dishi, combined with his mobile phone records, provided detectives with a foundation of raw information which led to the identification of the Perhati brothers – Doris and Hekuran– as suspects.
Detectives were gradually able to build a detailed picture on the wider scale of the offending throughout early 2020, and a significant breakthrough came in June 2020 when a disused warehouse in rural Hertfordshire, was identified.
Detectives were able to evidence that a number of suspects, including Doris, Ylber and Fation Perhati, completed building work to turn the premises into a thriving cannabis factory.
Brooklyn Selita, Adrian Toma, Kejvi Leba and Klevis Prenga also completed work at the site, which was owned by David Toal.
The investigation culminated in a targeted day of enforcement activity.
Further enquiries
The ledger seized from Dishi, combined with his mobile phone records, provided detectives with a foundation of raw information which led to the identification of the Perhati brothers – Doris and Hekuran– as suspects.
Detectives were gradually able to build a detailed picture on the wider scale of the offending throughout early 2020, and a significant breakthrough came in June 2020 when a disused warehouse in rural Hertfordshire, was identified.
Detectives were able to evidence that a number of suspects, including Doris, Ylber and Fation Perhati, completed building work to turn the premises into a thriving cannabis factory.
Brooklyn Selita, Adrian Toma, Kejvi Leba and Klevis Prenga also completed work at the site, which was owned by David Toal.
The investigation culminated in a targeted day of enforcement activity.
Court results
The following offenders were found guilty of conspiring to supply cannabis following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court. They were sentenced at the same court on Friday 29 October 2021:
- Fation Perhati, 29, of Mungo Park Road, Rainham, East London, was jailed for three years and six months.
- Ylber Perhati, 39, of Mungo Park Road, Rainham, East London, was jailed for five years.
- Klevis Prenga, 32, of no fixed address, was jailed for four years.
- Brooklyn Selita, 19, of Falcon Way in Harrow, Greater London, was jailed for five years. He was additionally convicted of possessing cocaine with intent to supply.
- David Toal, 50, of Waterside in London Colney, Hertfordshire, was jailed for four years.
Olsin Perhati, 21, of no fixed address, was found not guilty of the same offence.
The following offenders admitted conspiring to supply cannabis prior to the trial.
They were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on the same date:
- Doris Perhati, 25, of Week Street, Maidstone, was jailed for five years and three months.
- Hekuran Perhati, 34, of Victoria Crescent, Ashford, was jailed for five years and seven months.
The following offenders admitted to the production of cannabis prior to the trial.
They were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on the same date:
- Ndue Paluca, 30, of Maple Street, Sheerness, was jailed for 10 months.
- Dashmair Disha, 35, of no fixed address, was jailed for 10 months.
- Kejvi Leba, 21, of Mill Lane, Watton-at-Stone, was jailed for one year and five months.
- Adrian Toma, 24, of no fixed address, was jailed for one year and seven months.
Drilon Dishi, 37, of no fixed address, has also admitted conspiring to supply cannabis, and will appear at Maidstone Crown Court for a hearing on Friday 19 November.
A huge conspiracy
Detective Constable Danny James, Kent Police’s investigating officer for the case, said: ‘These men were involved in a well organised and co-ordinated plot to produce and supply cannabis on a large scale, estimated to have yielded at least 100kg of the drug worth over £1 million in street value.
‘The offending was meticulous and well planned, but the expertise of our team were able to unravel their pattern of offending, target them, convict them and seize their assets.
‘Our work has doubtlessly caused a huge amount of disruption for a criminal network that is no longer able to operate in our county and others across the south east.’
