A British-Indian married couple, Arti Dhir, aged 59, and Kavaljitsinh Raijada, aged 35, were found guilty of orchestrating a drug-smuggling scheme that involved shipping over 514 kilograms of cocaine from the United Kingdom to Australia. The operation, which came to light through an investigation by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), revealed that Dhir and Raijada utilized a front company named Viefly Freight Services to conceal their illicit activities. Both individuals had held director positions in the company since its establishment in June 2015.
The investigation uncovered that the drugs, valued at £57 million, were concealed within six metal toolboxes and transported via a commercial flight from the UK to Sydney in May 2021. The significantly higher prices of cocaine in Australia, compared to the UK, made the smuggling operation extremely lucrative for Dhir and Raijada. Key evidence linking the couple to the crime included Raijada's fingerprints on the plastic wrappings of the toolboxes and receipts for their purchase.
Arrested in June 2021, Dhir and Raijada denied the charges during their trial at Southwark Crown Court in London. However, the jury found them guilty on multiple counts of drug exportation and money laundering. The couple is scheduled to be sentenced at the same court on Tuesday (January 30).
Further investigations revealed that Dhir and Raijada possessed gold-plated silver bars, £13,000 at their residence, and £60,000 in a safe deposit box. Additionally, nearly £3 million in cash was discovered hidden in a storage unit rented by Raijada in his mother's name in Hanwell, UK. Despite declaring minimal profits to HMRC, the couple had purchased a flat in Ealing, London, for £8,00,000 and a Land Rover for £62,000.
The NCA intends to initiate legal proceedings to confiscate the couple's assets through Proceeds of Crime legislation. Piers Phillips, a Senior Investigating Officer at the NCA, emphasized that Dhir and Raijada exploited their knowledge of the air freight industry to traffic drugs worth tens of millions of pounds to Australia, fueling the drugs trade with their greed. Detective Superintendent Peter Faux, Commander of the New South Wales Police Force Organized Crime Squad in Australia, highlighted the importance of international collaboration in combating transnational criminal networks.
