Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Breaking Bad pair hid £25m cocaine in frozen chickens
Dealers used a TV storyline in real-life drugs transportation
DRUG dealers copied a plotline from TV hit Breaking Bad to move millions of pounds worth of cocaine across the UK.
Baldev Sahota and Shakti Gupta transported £25million of the class-a drug hidden among deliveries of frozen chicken.
It was the same technique used by drugs baron Gustavo Fring in Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul.
Sixteen kilos of cocaine were found stashed in a secret compartment in a van stopped in East London last October.
Detectives said the drugs, stashed in cardboard boxes and pallets, were destined for the streets of the capital. GPS data revealed the van made four journeys to Sandwell, West Mids, before heading south.
Birmingham crown court heard Sahota supplied the driver with cardboard boxes containing cocaine which were to be taken back to the capital.
Another 168 kilos of cocaine were found in pallets of frozen chicken by police officers who stopped a van he was driving in Northamptonshire.
Officers later raided an industrial unit in Hockley, Birmingham, and discovered two encrypted phones.
One device contained messages referring to a “fresh supply” of 168 kilos, with one customer indicating he wanted to buy it all.
Gupta, 34, of Quinton, West Mids, was jailed for 18 years while Sahota, 54, of Oldbury, West Mids, was handed a 16-year prison sentence.
Both had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine. Judge Peter Carr told them: “This is a conspiracy of supplying high-purity cocaine on a truly industrial scale.”
Det Supt Neil Ballard, of the Met Police, said: “This operation resulted in one of the largest land seizures of cocaine within the UK. It is a significant find which demonstrates the scale of this organised drug supply operation.
“The audacity of those involved and the lack of consideration for the impact of their criminality is clear.
“The distribution of this cocaine would have no doubt had a devastating impact on our communities.”
In Breaking Bad, Gustavo Fring, played by Giancarlo Esposito, is a methamphetamine distributor who uses vans from his fried chicken restaurants Los Pollos Hermanos to move the illicit merchandise around.