OTTAWA: Four members of a “well-oiled” drug and ammunition smuggling ring have been jailed for a total of 77 years after an international operation involving US and Canadian agents.
The gang was caught trying to import 40 kilos of cocaine – with an estimated street value of £11 million – into London, as well as 100 rounds of ammunition.
Shipments of drugs were smuggled from Mexico into Heathrow Airport within legitimate cargo consignments on British Airways World Cargo flights, police said.
The £11 million haul and bullets were intercepted by police in 2013 following a 13-month probe into the gang’s global supply network, which stretched from Mexico, the USA and Canada to the streets of London.
Ringleader Harvinder Sanghera, 33, of The Vale, Heston, west London, was today jailed for 30 years for cocaine and ammunition smuggling at Southwark Crown Court.
His right hand man Savdeep Atkar, also 33, of Lodge Lane, Grays, Essex, was sentenced to 21 years for importing cocaine.
The probe began in 2012 when links were found between the smugglers and seven other men who were arrested after 21 kilos of cocaine were tracked to a house in Surrey.
The Met Police worked with the Surrey Constabulary, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and US Homeland Security to bring the men to justice.
Canadian Mounties and Homeland Security agents tracked Sanghera as he made his way from Vancouver, in western Canada, to Los Angeles to hold meetings with known drug traffickers in hotel rooms.
