PREVIEW

Police in Blackburn, Lancashire ensured criminals who smuggled £17.2 million worth of cocaine inside blocks of Gouda cheese did not get a-whey with their crimes.
The ‘big cheeses’ in the criminal scheme, Saleem Chaudhri, 46, and 28-year-old co-defendant Rieddul Mohabath were jailed at Preston Crown Court on Friday (12April2024).
Chaudri was sentenced to 27 years in jail after pleading guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine and money laundering, while Mohabath admitted conspiring to supply cocaine and was today jailed for 16 years.
DS Haydn Sibley, of Lancashire Police’s East Targeted Crime Team, said: “Chaudhri and his associates went to great lengths to hide their product and with the amount of cocaine seized – the biggest haul ever in Lancashire – you can understand why.
“When we arrested Chaudhri you could see by the look on his face that his world had crumbled and that is reflected by the significant sentence he has received today.
“I welcome the sentences that both Chaudhri and Mohabath received and I hope they send out a clear message about what you should expect to happen when we catch you supplying Class A drugs in Lancashire.”
On 3 May 2023 detectives raided the 46-year-old’s unit at the Old Fire Station in Blackburn and found his £17.2 million haul of cocaine, much of which was hidden inside blocks of Gouda cheese.
Officers had seen Chaudhri take possession of a Toyota Estate from a drugs courier in Walpole Street, Blackburn, and drive it to the Old Fire Station.
When Chaudhri opened the shutter to the unit our officers found 217 kilos of cocaine, some hidden in the cheese and other blocks in black bin bags ready to be handed to couriers.
The drugs – imported from Belgium– would then be distributed around the United Kingdom.
Chaudhri was arrested at the unit and the courier elsewhere.
As the investigation continued, Mohabath was directing couriers to Blackburn to pick up large quantities of cocaine.
On the day he was arrested, Chaudhri was due to hand 67 kilos to one courier and 63 kilos to another.
Following the arrests of Chaudhri and the courier, enquiries showed that a second courier left Blackburn and headed back towards Mohabath’s base in South Shields. Throughout this period the courier was in contact with Mohabath.
On 3 July 2023 Mohabath was arrested outside his home in Dean Road, South Shields. A property linked to him in Jarrow, South Shields contained a significant amount of cash, a cash counting machine and suspected Class A drugs of varying weights.
At Chaudhri’s home in Waterside, Blackburn, nearly £10,000 in cash was found.
The police claim that between September 2022 and May 2023 Chaudhri agreed to sell over 2000 kilos of cocaine worth over £70 million.