London: Three Indian-origin men were among 10 people sentenced to imprisonment between two and 16 years each in the UK for smuggling cocaine and illegal cash across the country. The gang used vans with hidden compartments to transport millions of pounds worth of cocaine and illegal cash across the country, including shipments hidden within pallets of raw chicken. All 10 members of the gang were first arrested in July 2020.
Maninder Dosanjh, 39, Amandeep Rishi, 42, and Mandeep Singh, 42, were the Indian-origin men convicted for smuggling drugs and cash. Dosanjh has been imprisoned for 16 years and eight months, and Rishi faces jail for 11 years and two months as they were part of the conspiracy to provide class A banned drugs and money laundering at Birmingham Crown Court.
The West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit caught the gang, seizing 400kg of high-purity cocaine and GBP 1.6 million in cash. The cash was hidden cleverly in vehicle tyres and industrial machinery inside vans disguised as mechanical service vehicles.
The gang also stored 225kg of cocaine in a warehouse in Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, England, intended for export to Australia, according to West Midlands Police.
