A British drug lord who plotted the murder of a gangland rival from his luxury base in Dubai was today jailed for at least 32 years after being brought down by his own EncroChat messages.
James Harding, 34, and his 'loyal right-hand man' Jayes Kharouti, 39, ran a vast £100million criminal empire that generated up to £2.5million a month in profits.
They tried to recruit a hitman to put an unnamed rival courier 'permanently out of business', arming him with a gun and ammunition for the 'full M' - a murder - the court was told.
At the time, Harding, who claimed to be a high-end watch sales executive, was living in luxury in Dubai, staying in five-star hotels and driving Bugatti and Lamborghini sports cars.
The plot was scuppered by Scotland Yard officers who accessed more than 9,000 of their messages on EncroChat after French police smashed the encrypted network favoured by criminals.
