A 29-year-old man from West Ealing has been jailed for 25 years for his role in a wide-ranging drugs and firearms conspiracy that included discussions about trading military-grade weapons, after a major National Crime Agency investigation into encrypted criminal communications.
Harly Wise, of Wyndham Road, was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court alongside two co-defendants, with the trio receiving a combined total of 75 years in prison. The case followed the takedown of the EncroChat encrypted messaging platform in 2020, which exposed extensive organised crime networks across the UK.
Wise admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine, cannabis and methylamphetamine, conspiracy to transfer prohibited weapons and conspiracy to kidnap. Prosecutors said he acted as a facilitator in the movement of Class A and B drugs and was involved in brokering firearms deals. In May 2020, he arranged the sale of two 9mm handguns and 50 rounds of ammunition, agreeing to an exchange near Eltham in south London. Two other men were later jailed for 12 years and six years for their roles in that transaction.
EncroChat messages showed Wise discussing the trading of weapons including AK47s and an Uzi submachine gun with Carl Ian Jones, 59, who was jailed for 30 years. Jones, from Hale in Greater Manchester, also attempted to broker the sale of an AR15-style rifle and ammunition, and spoke about hiding firearms at a property he owned in Mallorca.
The third defendant, Naginder Gill, 47, of Seymour Road, Oldbury, West Midlands, was jailed for 20 years after admitting conspiracy to supply drugs.
Wise also discussed plans to kidnap a rival drug dealer over a £350,000 debt, attending a meeting in Greenwich Park to talk through the proposal.
The National Crime Agency said the EncroChat evidence revealed the scale of the threat posed by the group. NCA branch commander Jon Hughes said: “These men are extremely dangerous offenders and the streets are safer now they’re in prison.”
