A gang who hid millions of pounds worth of cocaine inside raw chicken pallets as part of a drug-smuggling operation have been jailed. 

Detectives found that the Birmingham-based group had transported more than a tonne of cocaine, resulting in ten members being jailed for a combined total of more than 80 years after they pleaded guilty to multiple different offences.

The operation included 225kg of cocaine that was set to have been exported to Australia before it was uncovered by West Midlands police.

The gang members are believed to have communicated with one another via EncroChat, a messaging platform that was often used by criminals due to being encrypted, until it was infiltrated by police in 2020. 

The group members, who lived in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Walsall, South Staffordshire, and London, were all arrested in a 10-day period in July 2020.

Maninder Dosanjh, 39, of Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, and Amandeep Rishi, 42, from Birmingham, were arrested having being found with over 150kg of cocaine hidden in frozen chicken pallets while the pair were driving back to Birmingham from Essex.

Detectives also found £1.6million in cash, some of which had been hidden inside vehicle tyres and van machinery disguised as mechanical service vehicles.

Detective chief inspector Pete Cooke, from West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: ‘We were able to expose the gangs’ activities, which were both sophisticated and on a commercial scale, with them using a network of highly trusted individuals and a fleet of vehicles with hidden compartments,’ according to The Times.

‘We believe they were responsible for importing hundreds of kilos of cocaine, estimated to be over a tonne, resulting in them making huge sums of cash, thought to be over £10 million.

‘But all this enterprise was illegal and was putting large quantities of drugs, which we know destroy many lives and blight many communities, on to streets both here in the UK and overseas.

‘Our teams were able to trace the activity, identify the criminals, and ultimately put them behind bars with considerable jail terms’.

Dosanjh was given the largest sentence of any gang member, as he was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison for conspiracy to supply drugs, money laundering. 

He was also charged with conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the exportation of drugs. 

His accomplice Mr Rishi was sentenced to 11 years and two months in jail.

Mohammed Usman, 29, from Oldbury, who collected wheels and tyres containing almost £500,000 in cash, was jailed for nine years and eight months. 

West Midlands Policed added that Sayeed Hashemyan, 38, from London, was sentenced to two years and three months for handling the wheels.

Peter Masih, 44, from Halesowen, and Mandeep Singh, 42, from Wolverhampton, were sentenced to eight years and seven years and two months respectively for conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering.

Mithab Hussain, 31, from Sandwell, was sentenced to seven years and two months for his role, while Rizwan Ali, 34, from Sandwell, and Kamran Hussain, 34, from Birmingham, were each sentenced to more than nine years in jail. 

Ashtiaq Ahmed, 45, from Walsall, was sentenced to two years and seven months for money laundering. 

All ten members of the gang pleaded guilty to the offences – which took place between March and August of 2020.