A man has been charged with drugs, firearms and money laundering offences after police seized cocaine worth £1.2 million, a firearm and £23,000 in cash.

Officers from the Organised Crime Partnership (OCP), a joint NCA and Metropolitan Police Service unit, arrested 29-year-old Albanian national Muhamet Qosja after pulling over a vehicle on Melbourne Road in Ilford, on October 13.

Inside the car officers located the cash concealed within the dashboard.

A search of a nearby address in Valentines Road led to the discovery of a revolver, 20 rounds of ammunition and 12 kilos of cocaine, hidden in a bedroom.

Once cut to street-level purity the drugs would have had an estimated resale value of £1.2 million, the National Crime Agency said.

Qosja is due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates on October 15.

OCP Operations Manager Matt McMillan said “Drugs, cash and violence all go hand-in-hand with organised crime. The Organised Crime Partnership is acting swiftly to arrest criminals and break the link between all the three factors.

“The OCP sees NCA and Metropolitan Police Service work together to stop the flow of firearms and drugs to the criminal market in London, target criminals that impact on London, as well as disrupting those that make huge profits from this illegal activity.”