Ringleader of Birmingham gang guilty of £11 million drug smuggling plot
Watch the moment two members of the crime group attempt to unload the shipment and run from authorities
The ringleader of a gang has been found guilty after attempting to smuggle 139 kilos of cocaine into the UK, hidden in a consignment of bananas.
Sajid Ali, 56, from Birmingham, was arrested by the National Crime Agency at Heathrow Airport in January this year.
He was just minutes before boarding a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, where he was living at the time.
Ali's associates had previously been arrested while uploading a shipping container they believed contained £11 million pounds worth of drugs at a storage company in Coventry.
The rest of Ali's associates are serving a total of 62 years in prison.
Ali had distanced himself from the operation, and instructed members of a crime group via WhatsApp voice and text messages.
He worked with Mirgent Shahu, 33, from Sutton Coldfield, and Robert Ball, 60, from Cheshire who are in prison for their involvement in the operation.
The container containing the cocaine originally arrived at London Gateway port from Ecuador.
Here, the gang did not know it, but Border Force officers were working with the NCA who found cocaine packages in the roof.
A few days later, Ball, contacted the shipping firm to ask them to release the four containers, including the one that contained drugs.
He arranged transport for the containers to Coventry, but did not know that the NCA were watching his steps.
Ali, Ball and Shahu met in Kings Heath on the morning of the 15th April 2022 to make final arrangements.
Ball and Shahu travelled to Coventry, where the containers were being held, and tore open the roof with a crowbar. But as they did so, NCA and police officers arrested them.
Ball, Shahu and two associates: Florjan Ibra and Arman Kaviani were all arrested and jailed for a total of 62 years at Warwick Crown Court in November last year.
Ali was convicted by a jury on the 30th July at Coventry Crown Court and will be sentenced on the 16th October.
NCA Operations Manager Paul Orchard said: "There is no doubt that Sajid Ali pulled the strings for this group, employing Ball and Shahu to oversee the dirty work of extracting what he thought were packages of cocaine from the shipping container.
“Had this load not been intercepted and seized, it would have been worth millions of pounds on the streets of the UK.
“Ali was in this for profit, but this criminality also comes at a huge human cost.
"Cocaine fuels violence and exploitation, including gang culture and firearm and knife crime in the UK and around the world.
Caroline Hughes, Specialist Prosecutor in the CPS, said: "This was a major operation, which saw a vast quantity of drugs seized before they could reach the community's streets.
"Throughout the investigation, Sajid Ali refused to admit his involvement in this large-scale drug operation, however the evidence carefully pieced together by the NCA and the CPS demonstrated the leading role he played in this importation.
"The CPS is committed to working with investigators such as the National Crime Agency to ensure that criminal drugs gangs are brought to justice."
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