US gang boss masterminded cocaine smuggling plot busted at Manchester Airport

Four drug couriers have been convicted in the UK after police foiled a plot by American crime bosses to flood the country with hundreds of kilos of Mexican cocaine.

Last year seven US citizens were jailed for collecting the drugs at Manchester Airport which arrived on flights from Mexico, and then passing it onto UK based criminals.

The Americans had earlier flown into Manchester from the United States without any luggage and waited until bags arrived on flights from Cancun.

They followed text message instructions from a US organiser called ‘Nate’ to collect specific suitcases containing hundreds of kilograms of cocaine before transferring the cases to waiting accomplices at nearby locations, who were also in touch with Nate.

Albanian nationals Elton Hallaci (32) and Artur Iseberi (27) both from Liverpool, were part of the organised crime gang that was involved in then moving the cocaine on.

Dale Hosker (49) from Bury, and Dale Creen (34) from Salford, were both members of another gang that was also collecting the cocaine from the American couriers before distributing it across the country.

.The NCA said that on May 11, 2024, couriers collected the cases and took a taxi to a nearby hotel, where five were passed to Hallaci and Iseberi, and two to Hosker.

Hallaci and Iseberi had collected 100kg of cocaine that day but one of the couriers left behind a case filled with 20 kilos of cocaine, which was seized by Border Force officers.

Just three weeks later, on May 31 that year, 12 suitcases worth of high purity cocaine with a street value of £24 million was smuggled into Manchester Airport.

Seven couriers were tasked with collecting them, but only one was successful. She was directed to an address in Bury where she handed over the drugs to Creen and Hosker.

The others were all seized, with the cases each containing between 22 and 24 blocks of cocaine and a tracking device.

Inside Hallaci’s home, officers found keys to a Jaguar car parked outside.

It had a professionally fitted hidden compartment between the rear seats and the boot used for smuggling drugs.

Officers also discovered a treasure trove of notepads with detailed ledgers of cocaine importations. They featured references to handovers that both Hallaci and Iseberi were involved in on 11 May.

The notebooks, which were written in Albanian and contained the fingerprints of Hallaci and Iseberi, indicated how the drugs would be divvied up with 30kg going to Bradford, 35kg going to London, 8kg to Birmingham.

NCA investigators also seized two other Jaguar cars belonging to the Albanian OCG which were fitted with similar stash compartments.

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The offenders were also captured on CCTV at Manchester Airport on the days the drugs arrived.

One courier had even taken photograph of Hosker over his shoulder following a cocaine handover. Iseberi tried to escape along the roof of his home when officers came to arrest him while an axe, a knife and a machete were found in Creen’s bedroom.

The four defendants were arrested on June 17 last year.

On the eve of their trial at Bolton Crown Court earlier this month, Hallaci, of Adlam Road, Liverpool; Iseberi, of Aintree Lane, Liverpool; and Hosker, of Palatine Road, Bury, pleaded guilty to smuggling cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

Creen, of Mere Fold Way, Worsley, Salford, was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to supply but acquitted of smuggling cocaine.

The four men are set to be sentenced at a later date.

After the hearing, Cat McHugh, NCA Branch Commander, said: “These offenders were part of crime groups that were moving significant amounts of cocaine across the country, wreaking harm to our communities and wider society.

“Like other hardened criminals, their thirst for money and riches drove them, but an excellent, tenacious NCA team conducted a painstaking investigation involving thousands of hours of work.

“The NCA continues to work with partners at home and abroad to combat the threat of Class A drugs.”