3 Indian-origin men jailed in UK for smuggling cannabis worth 1 mn pounds
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 May, 2023 02:19 PM
London, May 10 (IANS) Three Indian-origin members of an organised crime group have been jailed for smuggling cannabis worth around 1 million pounds into the UK from Canada, police said.
Kuran Gill, Jag Singh and Govind Bahia, all in their 30s, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import a 'class B' drug and were sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court, the Kent Police said.
The Border Force officers discovered two pallet-loads of cannabis within a shipment of computer casing at Heathrow airport in February 2021.
Valued at around 1 million pounds, the drugs had been flown across from Canada and were due to be delivered to a business address in Dartford.
The detectives were able to link the shipment to members of a criminal network who had been arranging the importation of cannabis over an illegally-encrypted mobile phone platform, which international law enforcement agencies cracked in the spring of 2020, according to the Kent Police.
"The cracking of the EncroChat mobile phone platform has led to countless criminals being caught red-handed and brought to justice," Investigating officer, Detective Constable Steve Brown of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said in a release last week.
Kuran Gill, 32, of Sun Marsh Way, Gravesend, organised the importation and onward distribution of the cannabis and also facilitated the sale of a kilogram of cocaine.
Officers seized around 105,000 pound cash from his home address following his arrest in April 2021.
Gill pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import a 'class B' drug, conspiracy to supply cocaine and possession of criminal property, and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
Jag Singh, 32, of The Boulevard, south-west London, was also involved in organising the importation and distribution of the cannabis.
Using the chat handle of 'Real Crocodile' he exchanged multiple messages with Gill in which they openly discussed routes into the country, ways in which the drugs could be concealed and how much it would cost.
Singh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import a class B drug and was jailed for four years and nine months.
Govind Bahia, 30, of Tennyson Walk, Gravesend, assisted Gill with advice and direction on the type and quantity of cannabis to purchase.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import a class B drug and was jailed for three years.The drugs were seized as part of an investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.
"Organised gangs across Europe thought they could openly discuss their criminal activity, oblivious to the fact the system was not as secure as they thought and that every message they sent was bringing them a step closer to prison," Brown said.
The Chaoyang district reported 26 cases over the weekend, the highest number so far in Beijing's latest surge, said the BBC report. All 3.5 million residents in Chaoyang, Beijing's most populous district, will undergo three rounds of mass testing, according to a notice by the city's disease prevention team.
He was in the final year of high school and had been set to study criminal justice at a local university. On Friday evening, the temperatures were down to about 12 degrees Celsius in New Milford, which is about 35 km from New York City.
Pavan Swarna (23) of Khammam and his friend Vamshi Krishna Pechetty (23) of Bachupally in Medchal Malkajgiri district were killed in a head-on collision of two cars in Illinois on April 21.
A BBC report said Britain's longest-lived monarch had travelled by helicopter to her Norfolk estate and is expected to stay in a cottage on the estate particularly liked by her late husband, Prince Philip. The Queen was in Sandringham earlier this year when she marked her accession to the throne in 1952.
During the two-day meet, the British Prime Minister will first land in Ahmedabad on April 21 and then proceed to Delhi. The ministry statement said, At the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Rt. Hon'ble Boris Johnson MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will pay an official visit to India from 21-22 April 2022.
Last week, British officials reported 74 cases of hepatitis, or liver inflammation, found in children since January. The usual viruses that cause infectious hepatitis were not seen in the cases, and scientists and doctors are considering other possible sources, including COVID-19, other viruses and environmental factors.
