2 plead guilty to smuggling drugs in chickens

London, November 29

Two Indian-origin brothers have pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group, which was involved in smuggling millions of pounds worth of illegal drugs into the UK via a series of front companies linked with the importation of chicken from the Netherlands.

Manjinder Singh Thakhar and Davinder Singh Thakhar pleaded guilty after being caught following an investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and will be sentenced in January next year.

Two ringleaders of the Birmingham-based organised crime group, Wasim Hussain and Nazrat Hussain, have been jailed for a combined sentence of around 44 years after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court this week.

“Throughout the course of this investigation, which has gone on for more than three years, we have systematically dismantled an organised crime group that was involved in the importation and distribution of Class A drugs across the West Midlands,” said Colin Williams, NCA Branch Operations Manager.

On three occasions, heroin and cocaine worth around 5 million pounds was seized hidden in chicken shipments and the NCA said its investigators subsequently identified another 16 importations which they suspect contained drugs.

The importations began in June 2016 and continued into 2017. Following each of the first two seizures the crime group set up a new company to try and cover their tracks, using a new name to carry on.

They would use genuine shipping companies to move loads from Rotterdam in the Netherlands to distribution hubs where they would be collected by members of the group. The shipments were set up by Nazrat Hussain, who made regular trips over to the Netherlands to meet Dutch suppliers.

Following the interception of two chicken shipments, and the arrests of two gang members involved, the gang switched tactics. This time they used two corrupt baggage handlers to collect three kilos of high-purity cocaine off a flight from Brazil to Heathrow. — PTI