Video shows scene after police catch drugs gang with 'office' in Luton counting £530k in cash

This footage shows the scene after police caught a major drugs gang with an ‘office’ in Luton in the middle of counting £530,000 in cash.

The 21-strong group used encrypted Encrochat phones to arrange the ordering of 100kg of high-purity cocaine from Dubai. Over a 14-month period, the gang smuggled cocaine into the UK worth a staggering £165 million.

In January 2022, 18 people were jailed for a combined total of 167 years for their part in the conspiracy.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing has now ordered some members of the gang to repay over £750,000 of their ill-gotten gains.

A court heard the gang ran their drugs empire from a modest terraced house in Willow Close, Darley Abbey, Derbys.

Last Thursday (January 24) a court heard gang member Michael Karim, 38, benefited by £1,078,992.04, with an available amount of £377,423.81. Karim, who lived in Nottingham before he was jailed for ten years, rented two apartments at a cost of nearly £91,000 and shopped at Harvey Nichols and Flannels.

He also spent thousands on airfares to Las Vegas and across Europe to watch football matches. A court heard he also rented 46 luxury cars at a cost of nearly £250,000.

On Monday (January 29) a separate hearing found another gang member, Basharat Iqbal, 48, benefitted by £166,253.45 with an available amount of £144,553.81. He and his younger brother Banaras, 44, both from Derby, were taxi drivers who couriered cash and class A drugs across the country.

Basharat was jailed for seven years and nine months for his links to the drugs empire. Banaras earned £252,650.59 with an available amount determined at £169,192.45. He is currently serving a prison term of four years and nine months for a money laundering offence.

During the trial, the court heard the gang had two “offices” in Luton and Derby where millions of pounds flowed through from their cocaine sales.

Between March 16 and April 30, 2020, they raked in around £18.6 million – the equivalent of around £400,000 every day. Police estimated the gang’s total earnings over the 408-day period they were in operation to be a whopping £165 million.

The extent of the cash being turned over was shown even more starkly when, during further warrants in June 2020, officers found money counter Nimrat Bahia mid-way through bundling £530,000 at an apartment in London.

Detective Sergeant Tom Bentley, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: “These are strong examples of the true purpose of POCA in ensuring offenders do not continue to benefit from a lifestyle fuelled by crime.

“I’d like to acknowledge the work of our financial investigators who work tirelessly to squeeze all they can from those who exploit and enable addiction in others, and the societal damage it causes, for their own personal gain.”

A fourth man was also ordered to repay £70,000 for his involvement in the gang’s crimes.