An Indian-origin drug dealer has been jailed for nearly eight years by a UK court for conspiring to supply 10 kg of cocaine in London.
Gurdip Samra, 44, was arrested in November last year as part of a joint operation by the UK's National Crime Agency or NCA and Scotland Yard's Organised Crime Partnerships or OCP.
The officers first arrested Samra's accomplice, Mark Lammin, after accosting him as he carried 10 kg of cocaine in a large holdall in Surrey, south-east England.
A short time later, officers stopped a black Range Rover, which was parked in the vicinity of his planned drugs handover and arrested Samra.
The duo was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court earlier this week, with Samra jailed for seven years and eight months and Lammin sentenced to six years and six months behind bars.
"The supply and trafficking of drugs is a business which relies on cash flow the loss of an expensive commodity will stall transactions on both sides, creating a lack of trust between crime groups, Matt McMillan from the Organised Crime Partnership said in a statement.
During a search of 44-year-old Lammin's home address in London, officers found a stun gun and also charged him with possessing a prohibited weapon. He and Samra were both charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
"Lammin was blatantly walking the streets of London with ten kilos of cocaine in a holdall that he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity shows that he knew exactly what he was doing. The fact he was also in possession of a prohibited weapon highlights the risk he posed, McMillan said.
Disrupting the supply of Class A drugs is crucial in our efforts to tackle organised crime and the violence it causes in and around London, he added.
