James Harding ran £100m cocaine empire from The Nest villas in Al Barari while driving Bugattis and living like a king – but Scotland Yard were watching his every message
A British drug lord who lived like a playboy in Dubai while plotting to have a rival executed has been convicted after one of the biggest EncroChat investigations in history finally brought his £100million empire crashing down.
James Harding, 34, and his “loyal right-hand man” Jayes Kharouti, 39, were today found guilty of conspiracy to murder at the Old Bailey following a seven-week trial held under extraordinary security with armed police escorts.
The kingpin, who posed as a high-end watch sales executive, had been living it up at The Nest – an exclusive complex of luxury villas in Dubai’s ultra-posh Al Barari district – while masterminding a plot to put a rival drugs courier “permanently out of business.”
But the flash criminal’s downfall came when he sent selfies on the same encrypted phone he used to arrange the hit – leading Scotland Yard straight to his door after French police cracked the supposedly impenetrable EncroChat system.
Life of luxury in the desert
While flooding Britain’s streets with cocaine, Harding was living like an Arabian prince in Dubai, staying in five-star hotels and tearing around in Bugatti and Lamborghini supercars.
His base was The Nest at Al Barari – an exclusive development of just 55 luxury villas in what’s dubbed the “green heart of Dubai,” where 60% of the complex is lush gardens, lakes and streams.
The contemporary villas, which sell for millions, feature private infinity pools, floor-to-ceiling windows and are surrounded by botanical gardens in one of Dubai’s most sought-after addresses.
But behind the facade of a successful watch dealer, Harding was the boss of a massive criminal enterprise that imported a TONNE of cocaine into Britain in just 10 weeks.
The murder plot
The Old Bailey heard how Harding, using the EncroChat handle “thetopsking,” first raised the idea of a “cryp robbery” – stealing drugs from a courier – which then morphed into something far more sinister: murder.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the court the defendants discussed recruiting a hitman and arming him with a gun and ammunition for the “full M” – their code for murder.
Kharouti, who went by “besttops” and “topsybricks” on the encrypted platform, offered the potential assassin £100,000 for the job, keeping his boss informed every step of the way.
In chilling messages, Harding instructed that the killing should involve a “double tap” – shots to both the head and chest to ensure the victim was dead.
When transport issues delayed the plan, the ruthless pair worked on alternatives, even arranging for the shooting to happen near the gunman’s home for convenience.
The price of murder goes up
As negotiations continued, Kharouti upped the offer to £120,000. But another EncroChat user trying to help locate the target insisted the price should be “no less than £200,000” for a professional hit.
What the plotters didn’t know was that their hired gun had been arrested by police in the early hours of June 3, 2020 – scuppering their murderous plans.
A £5million empire built on misery
The court heard the gang was responsible for approximately 50 importations of cocaine with a total weight of one tonne between April and June 2020 alone.
The messages show that once the cocaine was in the UK, it was broken into smaller parcels, of between 5kg and 10kg, and distributed across the UK to wholesale purchasers,” Mr Atkinson told the court.
The operation was staggeringly profitable, with the conspirators making £60,000-70,000 per importation – raking in £5million in profit in just 10 weeks.
The net closes in
Harding’s criminal career came to a spectacular end when he was arrested at Geneva airport in Switzerland on December 27, 2021, before being extradited to Britain.
Dramatic footage shows the moment counter-terrorist specialist firearms officers greeted him at a London airport in May 2022 after his extradition on a private jet.
Mr Harding, welcome back,” an officer says in the video, to which the cocky criminal replies: “Oh, thanks very much.
His sidekick Kharouti had fled to Turkey but was tracked down and extradited to the UK on June 25 last year.
Caught by their own arrogance
Scotland Yard spent hundreds of hours trawling through thousands of EncroChat messages after French and Dutch police cracked the encrypted system in 2020.
Detective Chief Inspector Jim Casey, who led the investigation, said: “This conviction sends a clear message: no matter how sophisticated the methods, criminals cannot hide behind encrypted software.”
Harding and Kharouti planned to kill, we stopped that and put them before the courts.
The lamest excuse
In a desperate attempt to save his skin, Harding claimed in court that the “thetopsking” handle didn’t belong to him but to an “intimate” male partner called TK, who he refused to identify.
The jury didn’t buy it.
Justice at last
Judge Anthony Leonard KC warned both men they face “substantial” jail sentences when they return for sentencing on Thursday.
Three other members of the gang – Calvin Crump, 29, of Redhill, Surrey; Khuram Ahmed, 38, of Slough; and Peter Thompson, 61, of south-west London – had already admitted drugs offences.
Detective Inspector Driss Hayoukane, who oversaw the Met’s EncroChat operation, revealed the massive scale of the victory: “Over 500 criminals have been successfully convicted since the EncroChat platform was cracked back in 2020, leading to well over 5,000 years of sentences.”
From Dubai high life to British jail cell
For Harding, the party is well and truly over. No more Bugattis, no more luxury villas with infinity pools overlooking Dubai’s manicured gardens, no more five-star hotels.
Instead, he faces decades behind bars in a British prison – a far cry from The Nest’s “eco-conscious luxury living” where villas come with private swimming pools, outdoor showers and BBQ areas.
The man who lived like a king in the desert while poisoning Britain’s streets with cocaine will now have plenty of time to reflect on his crimes from a somewhat less salubrious address: Her Majesty’s finest accommodation for drug-dealing scum.
As one senior officer put it: “Our work doesn’t stop here – we will continue to pursue those who profit from bringing harm to our communities.”
The message to other criminals living it up abroad while running drugs empires back home couldn’t be clearer: we’re coming for you, no matter where you hide.
