Hanwell Couple Jailed for Smuggling Half a Tonne of Cocaine

Had hidden £57million worth of drugs on flight to Australia

59-year-old Arti Dhir and 35-year-old Kavaljitsinh Raijada. Picture: NCA

January 31, 2024

A husband and wife from Hanwell have been jailed for 33 years each after they were found guilty of being behind an attempt to smuggle half a tonne of cocaine into Australia. The couple had avoided extradition to India a few years earlier to face charges of murdering their adopted 11-year-old son.

59-year-old Arti Dhir and 35-year-old Kavaljitsinh Raijada were convicted after an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) which proved they were behind a front company that had sent the drugs by plane under a cover load of metal toolboxes.

The pair were seeking to exploit the higher street price in Australia for the Class A drug which sells there for £110,000 per kilo compared to just £26,000 in the UK. At Australian prices, the shipment of 514 kilos would have been worth around £57 million.

Dhir and Raijada set up a front company called Viefly Freight Services in 2015 and booked six metal toolboxes onto a commercial flight. Both had been directors of the company since its foundation.

They were identified by NCA investigators after Australian Border Force intercepted the cocaine upon its arrival in Sydney in May 2021.

Raijada’s fingerprints were found on the plastic wrappings of the metal toolboxes containing the seized drugs, while receipts for the order of the toolboxes, worth £2855, were discovered at the couple’s home.

The NCA’s case was that there had been 37 consignments sent to Australia since June 2019, of which 22 were dummy runs and 15 contained cocaine.

Dhir had been employed by a flight services company at Heathrow from March 2003 until October 2016. Raijada worked at the same company from March 2014 to December 2016. NCA investigators believe that their knowledge of the airport freight procedures was used to cover their criminal activities.

The couple were arrested at their home in Hanwell on 21 June 2021 and officers seized £5000 worth of gold-plated silver bars, £13,000 inside the home and found £60,000 in cash in a safety deposit box.

£3million in cash was found stuffed in suitcases at a Hanwell storage unit. Picture: NCA

Following further investigations, the pair were arrested again in February 2023. NCA officers discovered almost £3 million in cash hidden in boxes and suitcases at a storage unit in Hanwell, which Raijada had rented in his mother’s name.

Financial inquiries found they had also purchased a flat in Ealing for £800,000 and a Land Rover for £62,000, despite declaring profits of only a few thousand pounds to HMRC.

Both defendants held cash in bank accounts which far exceeded their declared income. They had deposited almost £740,000 in cash into 22 different bank accounts since 2019 and were further charged with money laundering.

The drugs were packed into metal toolboxes. Picture: NCA

They were convicted of 12 counts of exportation and 18 counts of money laundering by a jury following a trial at Southwark Crown Court this Monday (29 January). They were sentenced at the same court on Tuesday (30 January).

Judge's commendations were awarded to three NCA officers who worked on the case.

The NCA will now start Proceeds of Crime proceedings against both defendants to strip them of their assets.

Piers Phillips, NCA Senior Investigating Officer, said, “Arti Dhir and Kavaljitsinh Raijada used their insider knowledge of the air freight industry to traffic cocaine worth tens of millions of pounds from the UK to Australia, where they knew they could maximise their revenue.

“They kept their illicit profits in cash at their home and in storage units, as well as purchasing property, gold and silver in an attempt to hide their wealth. These defendants may have thought they were removed from the misery caused by the drugs trade but their greed was fuelling it.

“The NCA worked closely with our partners in Australia and UK Border Force to dismantle the supply chain created by Dhir and Raijada and bring them to justice. We will continue to target class A drugs supply and the criminals overseeing it, both in the UK and overseas.”

Commander of the New South Wales Police Force Organised Crime Squad, Detective Superintendent Peter Faux, said the result was a great example of how law enforcement are working together to disrupt the international drug trade.

Det Supt Faux said, “The partnership between both authorities in Australia, and abroad, was the reason police were able to stop a sophisticated attempt at importing drugs via air freight into Australia and hold those responsible accountable.

“Serious and organised criminal networks often have no borders, which is why working collaboratively with our international counterparts is so important to tackle what is a global issue.”

Dhir and Raijada had avoided extradition in 2019 to India from the UK to face charges relating to the murder of their adopted 11-year-old son and his brother-in-law as part of a scheme to claim on a life insurance policy. Although the judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court ruled they did have case to answer and the Indian government had pledged that the death sentence would not be imposed, it was decided that an irreducible sentence would be a breach of their human rights. In February 2020, India’s appeal in the High Court in London against the ruling was also dismissed.