"They kept their illicit profits in cash at their home"
A married couple has been found guilty of smuggling millions of pounds worth of cocaine from the UK to Australia.
Prosecutors compared Arti Dhir and Kavaljitsinh Raijada’s “pivotal role” in the drugs operation to the plots of Ozark and Breaking Bad.
On May 15, 2021, Australian law enforcement intercepted half a tonne of cocaine, valued at £57 million, aboard a commercial cargo flight at Sydney Airport.
Southwark Crown Court was informed that this interception was part of a series of 15 similar shipments occurring between June 2019 and May 2021.
Additionally, a West London storage unit associated with the individuals revealed nearly £3 million in cash.
Despite their denial of involvement, Dhir and Raijada were convicted by a jury on 12 counts of drug smuggling and 18 charges related to money laundering.
Prosecutor Hugh French said: “It’s like something out of Breaking Bad or Ozark.”
He described the pair as “very different from the average married couple”.
Mr French added: “It was not the 25-year age gap that was different – it was the fact that they operated in the world of international organised crime.”
Despite the conviction, the jury was not told that Dhir and Raijada are wanted in India over allegedly plotting to kill their adopted son for an insurance payout.
They allegedly orchestrated the adoption of 11-year-old Gopal Sejani, a resident of the same village as Raijada’s father, and subsequently took out a life insurance policy.
Gopal was snatched by two men on a motorbike and was later found with stab wounds to the abdomen. He succumbed to his injuries in the hospital on February 11, 2017.
During the same attack, Gopal’s brother-in-law, Harsukhbhai Kardani, also lost his life due to stab wounds to the stomach.
Although Dhir and Raijada were apprehended in the UK later that year, they managed to evade extradition and avoid facing charges related to conspiracy to commit murder, murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, abduction for the purpose of committing murder and abetting a crime.
The married couple denied the allegations but a judge in the extradition case found there was a “prima facie case” against them.
But she said they should not be sent to India because if they were found guilty “they would be imprisoned for life with no prospect of release”, which would breach their human rights.
During the drug smuggling trial, it was revealed that Dhir and Raijada possessed extensive knowledge of the commercial freight system, stemming from their prior employment at Worldwide Flight Services in Heathrow Airport’s cargo office.
Employing a convoluted scheme, the pair utilised a trail of counterfeit documentation and front companies, adopting the identities of others, including Tatiana Pavalachi, a Romanian cleaner with whom Raijada was having an affair.
Ms Pavalachi, who used Google Translate to help her communicate, asked Raijada to remove her name as a director and in one message said:
“You know sometimes I think you’re just using me.”
The couple claimed Pankaj Patel was the “Mr Big” behind the smuggling operation.
But Home Office records show he left the country in 2015 and investigators do not suspect he had any involvement.
Dhir and Raijada were linked to 37 flights – 15 of which did not have their cargo scanned.
Prosecutors said the 15 planes in question were suspected of transporting drugs, although only one of them was intercepted with cocaine on board.
A cumulative amount of 568 kg of the Class A drug, boasting a purity level of up to 87%, was found concealed within a commercial shipment of unique aluminium toolboxes.
These toolboxes were falsely labelled as containing lift and tail parts, accompanied by a counterfeit invoice from a legitimate company unaware of the illicit activity.
Mr French said Dhir and Raijada used a car wash as part of their money laundering operation.
They bought an £800,000 two-bedroom apartment, with £280,000 from Raijada’s parents, in a luxury development in West London, without a mortgage.
In the property, gold-plated silver bars valued at approximately £5,000, a safety deposit box holding £59,000 in cash, along with jewellery, and an additional £13,870 were found.
Additionally, law enforcement officers uncovered nearly £3 million in cash meticulously placed inside suitcases and an aluminium box at a storage unit rented under Raijada’s mother’s name.
This sum is alleged to be the proceeds from the couple’s involvement in drug smuggling.
Piers Phillips, National Crime Agency 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 and 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.”
Commander of the New South Wales Police Force organised crime squad, Detective Superintendent Peter Faux, said the conviction was a great example of how law enforcement are working together to disrupt the international drug trade.
The pair are due to be sentenced on January 30, 2024.
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