Up next
A Libertarian President!
Astonishing footage shows massive piles of cash just moments after police caught a drugs gang counting out £500,000 in notes.
The 21-strong group used encrypted Encrochat phones to smuggle 100kg of high-purity cocaine from Dubai worth a staggering £165 million.
The criminal gang set up two ‘offices’ in Luton and Derby, where millions of pounds flowed through from their cocaine sales.
But police caught the gang red-handed when they bust in on them while in the middle of counting their ill-gotten gains.
18 people were jailed for a combined total of 167 years for their part in the conspiracy in January 2022.
Now they are being made to repay more than £750,000 after a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.
Paldip Mahngar (right) used his drug contacts in Dubai to order in kilos of drugs – which were then distributed across the country by Jaswant Kajla (left)
Michael Karim (left) and Basharat Iqbal (right) benefited hundreds of thousands of pounds from the drugs operation
The mastermind behind the gang was Paldip Mahngar who used his drug contacts in Dubai to order in kilos of drugs – which were then distributed across the country by Jaswant Kajla.
From his home in Bluebird Drive, Coventry, Kajla organisf1ed the logistics of moving the drugs, along with the collecting of money from the gang’s customers.
Kajla organised the logistics of moving the drugs, along with the collecting of money from the gang’s customers.
The 41-year-old ensured that those delivering the cocaine had well-rehearsed cover stories as couriers who could deny their knowledge of the drugs they were delivering.
A court heard the gang ran their drugs empire from a modest terraced house in the historical village of Darley Abbey, Derbyshire.
Last Thursday a court heard gang member Michael Karim, 38, benefited by £1,078,992.04, with an available amount of £377,423.81.
Karim, who lived in Nottingham before he was jailed for ten years, rented two apartments at a cost of nearly £91,000 and shopped at Harvey Nichols and Flannels.
He also spent thousands on airfares to Las Vegas and across Europe to watch football matches.
A court heard he also rented 46 luxury cars at a cost of nearly £250,000.
On Monday a separate hearing found another gang member, Basharat Iqbal, 48, benefitted by £166,253.45 with an available amount of £144,553.81.
He and his younger brother Banaras, 44, both from Derby, were taxi drivers who couriered cash and Class A drugs across the country.
Basharat was jailed for seven years and nine months for his links to the drugs empire.
Banaras earned £252,650.59 with an available amount determined at £169,192.45.
He is currently serving a prison term of four years and nine months for a money laundering offence.
Over a 14-month period, the gang smuggled cocaine into the UK worth a staggering £165 million
Between March 16 and April 30, 2020, they raked in around £18.6 million – the equivalent of around £400,000 every day
Between March 16 and April 30, 2020, they raked in around £18.6 million – the equivalent of around £400,000 every day.
Police estimated the gang’s total earnings over the 408 day period they were in operation to be a whopping £165 million.
The extent of the cash being turned over was shown even more starkly when, during further warrants in June 2020, officers found money counter Nimrat Bahia mid-way through bundling £530,000 at an apartment in London.
Detective Sergeant Tom Bentley, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: ‘These are strong examples of the true purpose of POCA in ensuring offenders do not continue to benefit from a lifestyle fuelled by crime.
‘I’d like to acknowledge the work of our financial investigators who work tirelessly to squeeze all they can from those who exploit and enable addiction in others, and the societal damage it causes, for their own personal gain.’
A fourth man was also ordered to repay £70,000 for his involvement in the gang’s crimes.
