Drug Kingpin Nabbed in Major UK Crackdown
Taulant Stoica, 35, from Bexleyheath, Kent, has been jailed for 10 years after police uncovered his role as the mastermind behind major cocaine deals across London and Bristol. Stoica, known by the EncroChat handle ‘Palefog’, coordinated drug handovers on the encrypted messaging app, targeting the UK streets with vast quantities of cocaine.
Encrypted Chats Expose Cocaine Network
The Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) – a joint task force between the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police Service – identified Stoica as the fixer directing two Albanian runners, Muhamet Quosja and Eduard Hadjini. Quosja, 30, and Hadjini, 39, were jailed last year after being caught red-handed with drugs and cash.
- Quosja was detained on 13 October 2020 with £23,000 cash. Police recovered a handgun, 20 rounds of ammo, and 11 kilos of cocaine worth £1.1 million from his Ilford home.
- Messages found on Quosja’s phone showed Stoica instructing him on drug drop-off points using the contact name ‘Daku’ – Albanian slang for ‘friend’.
- Hadjini was arrested in April 2021 after OCP officers tailed him from London to Bristol carrying one kilo of cocaine meant for dealer Thomas Scarrett, 28.
More Arrests and Seizures Highlight Network Scale
Hadjini’s arrests led to further busts. Alongside Sokol Ajazi, 36, police seized three more kilos of cocaine from a garage. Between these drugs and an earlier two-kilo handover, the street value reached around £360,000.
Ajazi and Scarrett were also jailed – receiving sentences of five years two months and six years respectively.
Stoica’s Capture and Sentencing
Stoica was finally arrested near his home on 30 June 2021, found with three mobile phones, £4,000 in cash on him, and a further £12,000 at his house. He admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and money laundering at Woolwich Crown Court last October.
Today (15 February), Stoica was sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
Andrew Tickner, OCP: “Stoica was pulling the strings behind these drug deals which, had they not been stopped, would have flooded our streets with cocaine. This partnership between the NCA and the Met targets those high up the supply chain and delivers real impact locally. We are committed to bringing drug dealers and money launderers like Stoica to justice.”
