Bujar Cozminca, 33, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after being convicted for his role in one of the UK’s most significant drug trafficking and money laundering operations. Cozminca, a prominent member of an Albanian organized crime group, purchased and supplied 100 kilograms of cocaine, valued at £3.5m wholesale and approximately £8m on the streets. In addition to his cocaine dealings, he laundered £2.5m in criminal proceeds.
His arrest in May 2021 revealed £300,000 in cash hidden across two properties he used for drug transactions in Islington and Wembley. Officers from the Organised Crime Partnership (OCP), a collaborative effort between the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Metropolitan Police, also uncovered detailed ledgers documenting drug deals totaling nearly £2 million.
Cozminca, of High Road, Wembley, pled guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and money laundering. On 28 June 2024, at Snaresbrook Crown Court, he was handed a 12-year prison sentence. This conviction marked Cozminca’s second time in jail for drug offenses. Previously, in 2012, he had been sentenced to 21 months for a similar conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, after which he was deported to Albania. However, he re-entered the UK illegally.
The investigation that led to his arrest was part of Operation Venetic, a large-scale NCA-led initiative targeting the encrypted communications platform EncroChat. Using the handle ‘Insatiable beta,’ Cozminca was able to orchestrate multi-kilo cocaine deals across the UK and launder large sums of criminal cash on a weekly basis. The OCP built the case against him by reviewing over 6,000 messages obtained from EncroChat.
This case underscores the ongoing efforts by law enforcement to dismantle sophisticated criminal networks involved in drug trafficking and money laundering, both in the UK and internationally.
