Two drug dealers linked to the UK’s largest-ever law enforcement operation have been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
Isshaq Khan, 30, and his nephew Jan Lee, 33, both from Crawley, were arrested as part of the National Crime Agency’s Operation Venetic, an investigation into the EncroChat encrypted communications platform in 2020.
EncroChat, a now-dismantled service provider, enabled criminals to communicate securely. However, with assistance from European law enforcement agencies, users’ data was hacked and shared with police forces across the UK.
This allowed Sussex Police to identify Khan, of Grace Road, and Lee, of Percivale Close, as having EncroChat accounts, which they used to openly discuss their criminal activities.
Detective Inspector Jason Vickers of the Sussex Police Serious and Organised Crime Unit said: “It was clear from just a snapshot of their messages, captured between March and June 2020, that Lee and Khan were running a well-established enterprise, handling hundreds of thousands of pounds and dealing in multi-kilos of cocaine and cannabis.
“This has been a large and complex investigation which resulted in both defendants being charged with being concerned in supplying a controlled Class A drug (cocaine), being concerned in supplying a controlled Class B drug (cannabis), and acquiring criminal property (money laundering).”
Faced with overwhelming evidence, both men pleaded guilty and were sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on 14 February. They each received 10 years and six months in prison.
In his summing up, the judge said that both defendants played a leading role in the operation, directing or organising drug supply at a commercial scale. They were identified as local wholesale suppliers in the Crawley and Sussex area.
Det Insp Vickers added: “The length of sentence handed to both defendants shows how this type of criminality will not be tolerated in Sussex, or anywhere else for that matter.”
The conviction is part of the wider impact of Operation Venetic, which has led to the arrest of hundreds of criminals and the disruption of major organised crime networks across the UK.
