Emily Brown
A former Metropolitan police officer lost her job on the force after claiming she didn't know her husband was a major drug dealer.
Despite earning a police constable’s salary, officer Rasvinder Agalliu enjoyed a lavish lifestyle involving a £5,000-a-month rental property, a £70,000 Audi and a lot of designer clothes.
Meanwhile, she claimed to believe her husband, Julian Agalliu, could afford their expensive tastes by working as a private chef in footballers' home, where she said he earned between £1,000 and £4,000 a week and was paid in cash.
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As it turns out, though, Julian was also a major drug dealer who used the criminal app Encrochat to deal cocaine and cannabis.
His illegal side-hustle was discovered when the National Crime Agency infiltrated the illicit communications system Encrochat and uncovered messages from his handle, 'Nicemoon'.
The messages discussed gun deals and parcels of cocaine weighing 100kg, which had been disguised to look like the watchmaker brand Hublot, so police conducted a raid at Agalliu and Julian's home in Enfield, north London in June 2020.
There, detectives found cocaine, digital scales and more than £15,000 in cash. Evidence of cocaine was also found on Agalliu's David Lloyd gym card, as well as in a Louis Vuitton box, and a Met radio which had been assigned to a former officer was found in Agalliu's handbag.
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Agalliu claimed the radio had been reassigned to her without the name being changed, and insisted she didn't know about the cocaine, which was found in the bedroom, because she didn't sleep in there.
She alleged the gym card was one she thought she'd lost and that she'd never seen the scales and cash, and suggested the drugs could have been planted by an attendee at a recent party.
The case was taken to a disciplinary panel, and Agalliu ended up being fired from the force because they didn't believe that she didn't know about her husband's operation.
The panel claimed her defence lacked credibility, and concluded she 'must have been aware' of one or more of the illicit items in her home. They determined she was 'more likely than not to have had a good idea' about how her husband got his money, especially as he failed to pay tax on his income.
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Explaining their argument, the panel concluded: "The clear inference we draw from the evidence presented is that on the balance of probabilities, [Julian Agalliu] is a class A drug user and is measuring drugs and it is inconceivable his wife would not know.”
Agalliu was found guilty of several charges of gross misconduct and sacked, while Julian was found guilty of conspiracy to supply drugs at Woolwich crown court on Friday (9 December).
He is set to be sentenced for his crimes on 9 February.