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17
Apr
Harrogate drugs ring leader ordered to repay more than £100,000
Four members of an organised crime group have been ordered to pay back a total of £115,048.
The group's members, who operated a county lines drugs network in Harrogate and surrounding areas, were sentenced to custody at Leeds Crown Court in August 2023.
A timetable for confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 was set at the time and North Yorkshire Police today said the amounts due to be repaid have been finalised.
The leader of the drugs ring, 40-year-old Ermal Biba, from Harrogate, was jailed for 13 years and six months for conspiring to supply class A and class B drugs.
Kladji Lleshi, 25, was jailed for six years and three months. Fellow member Allaman Tatariku received seven years and one month behind bars, whilst another member named Adam Sarkowski, 43, was sentenced to four years and seven months.
The force said an investigation was later carried out by North Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit to identify assets held by the defendants, with the assistance of the Crown Prosecution Service, Albanian authorities and the UK Home Office.
The organisations identified assets held by Biba in Albania, including a house, for confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Biba received a confiscation order at Leeds Crown Court on March 28 this year.
Under the order, he must repay £108,566.07 having taken more than £4.5 million from his illegal activities.
The repayment amount is based on current assets, police said.
Today’s statement added the amount due must be paid within three months or a default sentence of two years will be added to Biba’s current sentence.
The other members last year received confiscation orders, which totalled £6,482.35 to be repaid.
Katharine Wells, a financial investigator for North Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit, said today:
North Yorkshire Police use confiscation orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure offenders do not continue to benefit from a lifestyle fuelled by crime.
We will continue to gather evidence and use the Proceeds of Crime Act legislation to investigate the funds of criminals and confiscate any assets or monies we believe they have accrued through their criminal activities.
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