Man jailed after cocaine found inside cheese
TWO men, including one from South Shields, have been handed prison sentences after police found cocaine hidden inside blocks of cheese.
Lancashire Police said £17.2m worth of cocaine was seized – the force’s biggest ever haul – when officers raided a unit in Blackburn last May and cut open blocks of gouda to uncover some of the class A drugs.
Saleem Chaudhri, 46, was jailed for 27 and a half years at Preston Crown Court on Friday after admitting conspiring to supply cocaine and money laundering.
Co-defendant Rieddul Mohabath, 28, of Dean Road, South Shields, was sentenced to 16 years on Monday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, a police spokesperson said.
Officers carried out the raid on May 3 last year after seeing Chaudhri, of Waterside, Blackburn, taking possession of a Toyota estate from a drugs courier and driving it to the Old Fire Station in Blackburn.
The force said 217 kilos of cocaine, imported from Belgium, were found inside the unit, some hidden in cheese and other blocks in bin bags ready to be handed to couriers.
Mohabath was directing couriers to Blackburn to pick up large quantities of cocaine, police said.
When Mohabath was arrested, on July 3, snap bags of cocaine were found in an Audi outside his home.
Police searched a property linked to him in Jarrow, South Tyneside, and in the basement they found a significant amount of cash, a cash counting machine and suspected Class A drugs of varying weights.
Almost £10,000 of cash was found in Chaudhri’s home and evidence showed between September 2022 and May 2023 he had agreed to sell more than 2,000 kilos of cocaine, worth more than £70m, according to police.