A gang that hid millions of pounds of cocaine inside pallets of raw chicken as part of a drug smuggling operation has been jailed.
Detectives discovered the Birmingham-based gang had transported more than a tonne of cocaine, resulting in ten members being jailed for a combined total of more than 80 years after pleading guilty to multiple different offences.
The operation involved 225 kilos of cocaine which were due to be exported to Australia before being discovered by West Midlands Police.
Members of the gang are believed to have communicated with each other via EncroChat, a messaging platform that criminals often used because it was encrypted, until it was infiltrated by police in 2020.
The group, who lived in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Walsall, South Staffordshire and London, were arrested over a 10-day period in July 2020.
A gang who hid millions of pounds of cocaine inside pallets of raw chicken as part of a drug trafficking operation have been jailed.
Detectives discovered the Birmingham-based gang had transported more than a tonne of cocaine, resulting in ten members being jailed for a combined total of more than 80 years.
Maninder Dosanjh, 39, from Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, (left) and Amandeep Rishi, 42, from Birmingham, (right) were arrested after being found with more than 150kg of cocaine hidden in pallets of frozen chicken as the pair drove back to Birmingham from Essex.
Maninder Dosanjh, 39, of Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, and Amandeep Rishi, 42, of Birmingham, were arrested after being found with more than 150kg of cocaine hidden in pallets of frozen chicken as the pair drove back to Birmingham from Essex.
Detectives also found £1.6m in cash, some of which was hidden inside vehicle tyres and machinery in vans disguised as service vehicles.
Detective Chief Inspector Pete Cooke, of the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “We were able to expose the gangs’ activities, which were sophisticated and commercial in scale, using a network of highly trusted individuals and a fleet of vehicles with hidden compartments,” according to The times.
We believe they were responsible for importing hundreds of kilos of cocaine, estimated at over a tonne, enabling them to earn huge sums of cash, estimated at over £10m.
‘But this whole enterprise was illegal and dumped vast quantities of drugs, which we know destroy many lives and blight many communities, onto the streets both here in the UK and abroad.
“Our teams were able to track the activity, identify the criminals and ultimately put them behind bars with substantial prison sentences.”
Dosanjh received the harshest sentence of any gang member, as he was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison for conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering.
He was also charged with conspiracy to fraudulently evade the drug export ban.
His accomplice, Mr Rishi, was sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison.
Peter Masih, 44, from Halesowen (left) and Mandeep Singh, 42, from Wolverhampton (right) were sentenced to eight years and seven years and two months respectively for conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering.
Mithab Hussain, 31, from Sandwell (left), was sentenced to seven years and two months for his role, while Rizwan Ali, 34, (centre) from Sandwell, and Kamran Hussain, 34, from Birmingham (right) were each sentenced to more than nine years in prison.
Mohammed Usman, 29, of Oldbury (left), who collected wheels and tyres containing almost £500,000 in cash, was jailed for nine years and eight months. Sayeed Hashemyan, 38, of London (right), was jailed for two years and three months for tampering with the wheels.
Mohammed Usman, 29, of Oldbury, who collected wheels and tyres containing almost £500,000 in cash, was jailed for nine years and eight months.
West Midlands Police added that Sayeed Hashemyan, 38, from London, was sentenced to two years and three months for wheel-tampering.
Peter Masih, 44, of Halesowen, and Mandeep Singh, 42, of Wolverhampton, were sentenced to eight years and seven years and two months respectively for conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering.
Mithab Hussain, 31, from Sandwell, was sentenced to seven years and two months for his part, while Rizwan Ali, 34, from Sandwell, and Kamran Hussain, 34, from Birmingham, were each sentenced to more than nine years in jail.
Ashtiaq Ahmed, 45, from Walsall, was sentenced to two years and seven months for money laundering.
The ten gang members pleaded guilty to crimes that took place between March and August 2020.
Ashtiaq Ahmed, 45, from Walsall, was sentenced to two years and seven months for money laundering.
(tags to translate)dailymail