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.
Russia on Tuesday offered another opportunity to surrender for the remaining Ukrainian forces holed up at the Azovstal steel plant in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol. All those present at Azovstal should exit the facility within a two hour deadline without any arms or ammunition on them, the Russian Defense Ministry directed, RT reported.
Undaunted by rain, President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, kicked off the equivalent of a daylong garden party for some 30,000 kids and adults, including celebrities and costumed characters.
2 Sikh men were attacked and robbed in New York in Queens on Tuesday, the same neighbourhood in the city where an elderly Sikh man was the target of a hate crime less than 2 weeks ago. The attack happened “very close” to the area where Nirmal Singh was punched in an unprovoked assault on April 3.
Officials from the city and the federal government investigating the morning shooting which seemed to be meticulously planned were puzzled by what triggered the attack. Although 33 shots had been fired, no one has died while five of those hit by bullets were reported to be in a critical condition.
A total of 16 people were injured in the incident, six of them from shrapnel, smoke inhalation or other causes, officials said. 5 of the gunshot victims were in critical condition, but miraculously there were no deaths reported.
The shooting occurred at 4.13 p.m. on Sunday evening in the US city's 12200 block of Blakley Avenue, Xinhua news agency quoted the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as saying in a notification. Two male adult victims were pronounced dead at the scene, the Department said.
