Men found guilty over 'Mexican cocaine to UK' plot

Four men have been convicted of plotting to fly hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into Manchester Airport from Mexico.

The smuggling operation - masterminded by Mexican and American drug lords - unravelled after one suitcase stuffed with 20kg of the Class A drug was left behind and opened by Border Force officers.

A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation found US citizens would fly into Manchester without any luggage and pick up suitcases that had arrived on separate flights from Mexico and Barbados.

They would receive text message instructions from a US-based man known as Nate and then take taxis to hotels where they would pass the suitcases, full of cocaine, to UK-based associates.

The NCA said eight suitcases arrived on flights from Cancun and Barbados on 11 June 2024, including the one that had been left behind and seized by Border Force officers.

The American couriers collected the rest and passed five, containing 100kg of cocaine, to Liverpool-based Albanian nationals Elton Hallaci, 32, and Artur Iseberi, 27.

Twelve other suitcases had been flown into Manchester on 31 May, containing 300kg of high purity cocaine with an estimated street value of £24m.

The NCA said seven couriers were sent to collect them but only one woman was successful.

She was directed to an address in Bury, Greater Manchester, where she passed them to Dale Hosker, 49, of Palatine Drive in Bury, and Dale Creen, 34, of Mere Fold Way in Worsley, Salford.

The rest of the suitcases were seized at Manchester Airport and found to contain between 22 and 24 blocks of cocaine and tracking devices.

The Albanian and British men were arrested on 17 June 2025 by NCA officers.

Raids on their homes uncovered damning evidence including keys to a Jaguar car - fitted with a hidden compartment for smuggling drugs - that had been parked outside Hallaci's address in Adlam Road, Fazakerley.

Two other Jaguars with similar hiding places were also linked to the Albanian crime group.

Officers also found notebooks referencing cocaine deliveries with details of how they would be divided up and sent to places including Bradford, London and Birmingham.

The NCA said CCTV cameras captured the men at the airport, and found one courier had even taken a picture of Hosker over his shoulder after a handover.

Iseberi, of Aintree Lane in Aintree, tried to escape over a roof when his home was raided.

In Creen's bedroom, meanwhile, weapons including an axe, a knife and a machete were seized.

Cat McHugh, NCA branch commander, said: "Like other hardened criminals, their thirst for money and riches drove them, but an excellent, tenacious NCA team conducted a painstaking investigation involving thousands of hours of work."

All four men were due to stand trial at Bolton Crown Court earlier this month but Hallaci, Iseberi and Hosker pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply and conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of Class A drugs.

Creen took his chances with a jury and was cleared of the conspiracy charge but was found guilty of possession with intent to supply on Tuesday.

All four men are due to be sentenced on 30 January.

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