Greater Manchester Police seize £10 million worth of drugs following major operation

Four men are set to be deported to Albania following their jail sentences

Author: Nathan MarshPublished 14th Oct 2024

Greater Manchester Police have seized more than £10 million worth of cannabis following a massive operation to tackle an Albanian drugs gang.

In 2023, Operation Mille, a national operation was launched to tackle the growing problem of Western Balkan organised crime groups (OCG’s).

GMP carried out a series of raids and made 73 arrests, including 46 Albanian nationals, between March 2023 and July 2023.

During those raids they uncovered cannabis farms with a total of 13,000 plants in them.

In total, 31 people charged and remanded in custody.

As part of the operation, officers became aware of an Albanian man who was believed to be controlling others in the large-scale production of cannabis across Greater Manchester, and carried out a covert investigation between May and November 2023.

The team wanted to identify and take action against the higher level OCG members, rather than just catch the ‘gardeners’ tending to the cannabis farms.

Three properties were raided in Chadderton, followed by one in Wigan.

In early 2024 Ilrijan Hodaj, Armando Xhemalaj and Henri Shperdhea all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis.

In September, Riza Hodaj had a trial at Bolton Crown Court where he pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis and money laundering. After trial he was found guilty on all counts.

On Tuesday 24 September 2024, all four defendants were sentenced at Bolton Crown Court to the following:

Riza Hodaj (20/06/1985) of Beech Mount, Harpurhey – Seven years

Iriljan Hodaj (02/04/1992) of Lakeland Crescent, Bury – Four years

Henri Shperdhea (08/05/1989) of Denton Lane, Chadderton– Two years three months

Armando Xhemalaj (11/03/1992) of Barracks Road, Wigan - Two years three months

All four will be subject to deportation after serving half their sentence.

In addition, the proceeds of crime to the value of over £90,000 is to be forfeited.

Tackling the supply of drugs and subsequent drug-related crime is incredibly important to us, and on Wednesday 9 October 2024 we announced the city-region's first published multi-agency drugs strategy to help us do that.

This is just one example of the proactive work our officers and staff do every day as we look to remove drugs from the streets, protect vulnerable people and make a positive impact on our communities.

Detective Inspector Paul Crompton, of our Serious and Organised Crime Group Syndicate, said:

“This was an excellent investigation into an OCG, which resulted in the recovery of over £1million pounds worth of drugs as well as the seizure of a large amount of criminal cash.

“Not only that the organisers of this criminal enterprise were successfully identified and prosecuted, rather than just the ‘gardeners’ who are typically caught within cannabis farms.

“What usually comes from this kind of criminality is people being exploited for cultivating drugs. This operation flipped the script slightly by going after those at the top of criminal enterprise.

“It is hoped that these convictions serve as a deterrent to this type of activity which blights local communities who have organised criminal gangs operating within their communities.”

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