Arti Dhir, 61, and her husband Kavaljitsinh Raijada, 36, from Hanwell, are serving 33 years each for one of the UK's largest cocaine export cases.
Both had worked for a flight services company at Heathrow. In 2015 they set up an air cargo firm, Viefly Freight Services, and used it to send cocaine to Australia hidden in metal toolboxes on commercial flights. One consignment held over half a tonne, worth an estimated £57 million.
Australian Border Force found the drugs in Sydney in May 2021 and alerted the National Crime Agency. Officers found about £3 million in cash in storage units, including one in Hanwell, seven gold-plated bullion bars hidden in their flat, and £522,900 spent on a house in west London.
They were convicted in January 2024 of 12 counts of exporting cocaine and 18 of money laundering. This week Southwark Crown Court heard they made around £743 million. Dhir was ordered to repay £808,627.81, the amount that can be recovered, within three months or face seven more years in prison. Raijada's order is yet to be made.
The couple were also accused in India of arranging the 2017 killing of their adopted son, Gopal, in Gujarat, which they deny. In 2019 a UK judge refused to extradite them on human rights grounds, and they have never stood trial over his death.
📍 Hanwell, west London
📰 Sources: National Crime Agency, BBC News, Daily Mail, Ealing News
#ub1ub2 #hanwell #ealing #heathrow
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