Punjaborigin man jailed for 13 years in UK in drug case

LONDON : A Punjab-origin man based in Wolverhampton who acted as a drugs wholesaler to dealers in the West Midlands was jailed on Friday for 13 years following an investigation by Britain’s crime prevention officials.

Daljinder Bassi, 36, used his house on Stafford Road to cut, package and store large quantities of heroin and cocaine before selling it on to dealers in the West Midlands, the officials said. He was arrested in October 2017 as he drove on motorway M6 with three kilos of heroin in his car.

Officers searching his home found cash and class A drugs in powder, rock and block form concealed in various hiding places, including under the floorboards, beneath the insulation in the loft and within the wall cavities. Cash hidden in walls was only accessible from the loft using a homemade pulley system, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said, adding that officers seized £737,000 in cash and 22kg heroin, cocaine and mixing agents. The drugs would have had an estimated street value of £2.5 million. A hydraulic press which investigators believe Bassi used to pack the drugs into blocks, and two ledgers comprised of customer details and their orders were also seized.

After pleading guilty to three counts of possession, Bassi was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday. Matt McMillan from the Met Police Organised Crime Partnership, said: “Bassi was a major distributor of class A drugs in the West Midlands. By shutting down his illegal enterprise, we have we eliminated a key link in the trafficking chain.” HTC