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| Varun Bhardwaj (Photo: Somerset SAPS) | Cocaine concealed in animal feed led to the conviction and jailing of two traffickers who also operated via South Africa. (Photo: South West Regional Organised Crime Unit) | Anand Tripathi Picture Avon (Photo: Somerset SAPS) | A consignment of oranges from South Africa included 49kg of cocaine that landed in the UK in 2022. (Photo: Crown Prosecution Service) |
A UK farmer discovered parcels of cocaine hidden in animal feed from Colombia, leading to the arrest of two men for drug smuggling. The discovery led to the unravelling of a narcotrafficking network involving crooks who use shell companies, fake names, and ships to smuggle drugs into the UK from various countries, including South Africa. Investigations into the syndicate began in April 2022 and recently culminated in the jailing of two smugglers there. Anand Tripathi, 61, who ran an export and import company, and Varun Bhardwaj, 39, who worked with him, were sentenced to 15 and 19 years in jail respectively in mid-December last year.
The case against Tripathi and Bhardwaj fits in with drug busts where traffickers have been unmasked and held to account. In November 2022, the UK’s South West Regional Organised Crime Unit released a statement saying that in April of that year, a shipping container transported from Colombia was delivered to a farm in Somerset in the UK. Inside it was animal feed — and 189kg of cocaine. It turned out that the container was not meant to have reached the farm. According to a UK Crown Prosecution Service statement dated 15 December 2023, traffickers were meant to have diverted it to their warehouse. But the container was not distracted and landed on the farm, its intended destination, where “a farmer accidentally spotted” the cocaine.
Seven months later, as part of those investigations, the 49kg of cocaine, concealed in a container of oranges from South Africa, was intercepted at the UK’s Port of Felixstowe. Tripathi and Bhardwaj were among those arrested as police tried to dismantle the trafficking network. The Crown Prosecution Service statement said that the scheme involved the pair using their freight company as a cover to clear shipping containers that held drugs and cigarettes and diverting them from their intended destination to a warehouse they controlled.
During their 71-day trial in the Isleworth Crown Court, it was heard that between September 2021 and November 2022, Tripathi and Bhardwaj trafficked 272kg of cocaine, plus 2,503 kilograms of cannabis, via four shipments. One of the shipments involved cannabis concealed among yams from Ghana, while another was the oranges from South Africa. UK authorities said they evaded “the £9.7-milllion excise and customs duty which should have been payable.”
A company, Tatab LTD, a customs clearing agent based in Hounslow in West London, was linked to the drug smuggling. Tripathi was its director and secretary, and Bhardwaj was found to be the company’s operations manager who reported to Tripathi. Other clues suggested Bhardwaj was closely involved with Tatab, including owning and driving a Range Rover with the personalised registration plate TA07 TAB (TATAB).
Tripathi and Bhardwaj were convicted of various crimes, including importing cocaine into the UK in November last year. While Tripathi now faces 15 years in jail, Bhardwaj was sentenced to 19 years behind bars because he faced additional charges, including for failing to provide a PIN number for a mobile phone.
This article is republished from the Daily Maverick. Click here to read the original article.
