Two Essex Men Nabbed with £8 Million Cocaine Haul – Jailed for 21 Years
Two men caught red-handed with 79 kilos of cocaine in their car boot have been slammed with hefty jail sentences. Haxhi Shehu, 35, and Fitim Prenci, 39, both from Newlands Street, Witham, Essex, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a staggering 81 kilograms of Class A drugs.
Massive Cocaine Bust Outside Witham
On 13 March 2018, Met Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Command swooped on a Ford Focus parked near Collingwood Road, uncovering 79 one-kilogram blocks of cocaine stashed in four large holdalls. A further kilo and a wad of cash were hiding in the glovebox.
£8 Million Worth of Drugs Off the Streets
Officers then raided a nearby Newlands Street property, finding another kilo of cocaine under a bed, along with a cash counting machine and mobile phones. The total haul was estimated to be worth around £8 million – enough to devastate countless lives if sold on.
Serious Crime Squad Delivers Justice
Detective Constable Liam Hurley said: “These two men were clearly running a commercial drugs operation. This fast-paced police operation has removed a huge amount of cocaine from the South East streets. Drugs destroy lives and fuel crime, violence and exploitation. The public are safer with these men behind bars.”
On 19 March at Southwark Crown Court, Shehu and Prenci were each sentenced to 10 years and six months, bringing the total custodial sentence to 21 years between them.
