Two cocaine dealers who stashed cocaine in a secret compartment of a glove box in a "futile" bid to hide their criminality have been jailed.

Orest Malushi, 44, from Watford Way, Mill Hill, and Olsian Vogli, 31, from Birmingham, were caught outside a flat that Vogli used as a stash where police found £100,000 in cash.

They were sentenced to two years and six months and five years and four months respectively at Harrow Crown Court on January 9 for drug offences.

The Albanian nationals were being investigated by officers from the Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) – a joint National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service unit.

The pair were arrested beside Malushi’s car in Hendon in July last year by OCP officers who had them under surveillance.

Vogli had been seen entering and leaving a flat in Caversham Road, Colindale, that he used as a stash house shortly before the arrest.

This Is Local London: OCP officers found three mobile phones and two-and-a-half kilos of cocaine hidden inside a specially adapted hide in the glovebox of Orest Malushi's carOCP officers found three mobile phones and two-and-a-half kilos of cocaine hidden inside a specially adapted hide in the glovebox of Orest Malushi's car (Image: NCA)

OCP officers searched a black rucksack he was carrying, which contained half a kilo of cocaine.

They also found three mobile phones and a further two-and-a-half kilos of cocaine which had been hidden inside a specially adapted compartment in the glovebox of Malushi's car.

More than £100,000 in cash and a mobile phone with several SIM cards were found after the flat was searched.

This Is Local London: £100,000 in cash was found in a Colindale apartment £100,000 in cash was found in a Colindale apartment (Image: NCA)

Malushi and Vogli pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply during previous hearings at St Albans Crown Court.

Andrew Tickner, from the OCP, said: “The cocaine supplied by Olsian Vogli and Orest Malushi was clearly generating large profits for the organised crime group they belonged to, as shown by the amount of cash we found in the apartment.

"The hide in Malushi’s car was ultimately a futile attempt to conceal his criminality, but shows the time and attention that drug suppliers will put into their criminal profession.

“The class A drugs trade fuels gang violence and suffering in the UK, which is why the NCA and Met Police’s strong partnership is at the forefront of dismantling the organised criminal groups behind it.”