LONDON: A London drug gang led by an electrician and a company CEO smuggled cocaine and cannabis into the UK by disguising the drugs as fruits and vegetables.
Crack cocaine was dyed orange to look like pieces of dried papaya and cannabis was hidden in fake yams from Jamaica during the massive smuggling outfit.
Five men including a painter and decorator, electrician and recording studio owner – were jailed for a total of more than 38 years after being busted in a big police operation. Police seized boxes containing bags of dried fruit labelled ‘fancy island mix’ – but found they contained two kilograms of rocks of crack cocaine which had been coloured orange to look like papaya.
Officers arrested the painter and decorator who was carrying the boxes and later raided the north London home of another gang member where they found 33.8kg of cannabis disguised as yams. The cannabis, camouflaged as yams, was hidden among real yams in the boxes.
In the coming months, border force officials at Gatwick airport seized a shipment of 36kg of cannabis disguised as yams as well as 40kg of herbal cannabis.
Further inquiries led the police to the owner of a recording studio in Reading, where officers seized 1.8kg of herbal caanabis. Detective Constable Catherine Pearson said: “This police operation successfully dismantled a sophisticated crime network that was regularly importing drugs into the UK disguised as food.
“The gang demonstrated their sophistication by using encrypted mobile devices in a bid to frustrate any police investigation but despite their efforts, we were still able to piece together enough evidence to leave them little choice other than to plead guilty at court.”
Four of the men were sentenced on Tuesday, January 3 at Isleworth Crown Court after all having pleaded guilty to drugs importation and drugs supply offences.
Company director Jarnail Singh, 39, of New Gun Wharf in east London and Clayhall Avenue, Ilford, was jailed for 19 years.
