UK’s Most Wanted Indian Drug Lord active in Europe

Indian drug lord Shashi Dhar Sahnan is one of the UK’s most wanted fugitives, having been on the run for 13 years.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) believes he is active in Europe. They have said his gang is one of the biggest crime syndicates in smuggling heroin.

Sahnan was born in India but was brought up in Britain. He still has family living in Leicester while he is believed to be in Spain.

According to the NCA, London and Belfast have been key operating areas.

NCA representatives said that there is no concrete evidence to link Sahnan’s drug operations with notorious criminal Dawood Ibrahim‘s Karachi-based D-company.

However, Sahnan’s association with Indian smuggling groups helped him to smuggle large quantities of high-purity heroin into Europe and the UK.

India has been a major transit route for opium-related drugs, including heroin, to Europe

The NCA and Interpol believe that the drug lord is hiding somewhere in the Costa del Sol in the south of Spain.

The Costa del Sol is popular with tourists but it is known for having notorious criminals live there. Many are of Russian and Dutch origin. They are mostly involved in drug trafficking.

Sahnan is suspected to be operating in the area and trafficking drugs into various European countries.

He is been on the run ever since £1.6 million worth of heroin was discovered at a Birmingham depot.

In July 2007, police discovered a stash of compressed heroin within a consignment of chiller units at a Birmingham freight depot.

It was one of the largest seizures ever made by Leicestershire Police.

The heroin was removed by officials and allowed the shipment to continue its journey to Leicester under police surveillance.

Police subsequently raided a city centre business on Midland Street after it was delivered.

Sahnan went on the run while two brothers from Leicester were arrested and went to trial for their involvement in the conspiracy.

The brothers were jailed for a combined total of 43 years and had hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of assets seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

n December 2009, Babu and Bharat Sarsia appeared at Nottingham Crown Court charged with drug importation, which they were later found guilty of.

Babu Sarasia, then aged 44, was jailed for 25 years. His brother, Bharat Sarasia, then aged 45, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Shashi Dhar Sahnan was born in India and has been described as five foot seven. He is of stocky build and he wears a hearing aid in his right ear.

Heroin smuggling in Britain has been dominated by Indian drug lords.

Iqbal Mirchi, a close associate of Ibrahim, was operating from a villa on the outskirts of London. Even though India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) pursued an extradition case, Mirchi walked away without punishment as the CBI could not present sufficient evidence against him.

Another associate named Jabir Motiwala is involved in an international drug financing case. He faces an extradition trial in London.

The US-based Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has charged him with managing financial deals on behalf of D-company in relation to the smuggling of narcotics.