Who is the Indian-origin couple convicted for smuggling 514 kg of cocaine to Australia?

In a shocking case similar to Mark Williams and Bill Dubuque’s 2017 series Ozark, an Indian-origin couple in the UK has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for a massive drug smuggling operation spanning continents. The intricate plan was exposed by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in May 2021 when the Australian Border Force recovered more than half a tonne of cocaine worth a whopping 57 million pounds (Rs 600 crore) when it arrived in Sydney. However, this is not it. Arti Dhir, 59, and Kavaljitsinh Raijada, 35, are wanted in India over an alleged double murder case. Here’s all we know about the couple and the cases against them. About the couple Nairobi-born British Indian Arti Dhir’s family hails from Punjab’s Gurdaspur, while her 35-year-old husband Kavaljitsinh Raijada is an Indian national from Gujarat’s Keshod, according to The Times of India. The couple lives in West London’s Ealing and has set up a company named Viefly Freight Services to facilitate their cocaine smuggling network. Both had been directors of the company at different points since its incorporation in June 2015, as per India Today. Before starting their firm, they worked for Worldwide Flight Services at Heathrow Airport’s cargo office, where they gained insight about the industry, per Sky News. In 2019, India had tried to extradite the couple to face double murder charges in Gujarat. The drug-smuggling case According to Sky News, the Southwark Crown Court heard that Dhir and Raijada’s front company had dispatched the narcotics via a commercial flight from Britain. When authorities checked the six metal toolboxes, they discovered a staggering 514 kilogrammes of cocaine. The report suggests the pair was linked to a total of 37 flights, 15 of which did not have their cargo scanned. Prosecutors believe the 15 planes all had drugs on board, although cocaine was only seized from one of them. In the UK, a kilo of cocaine at wholesale is priced at around £26,000 (~Rs 27.38 lakh), while in Australia, the same is sold for over £110,000 (~Rs 1.15 crore). Since cocaine prices in Australia are substantially higher than in the UK, Dhir and Raijada made illicit shipment to earn more profit. The duo used fake documents with the names of other people, including Tatiana Pavalachi, a Romanian cleaner who Raijada was having an affair with, the report said. His fingerprints on the plastic wrapping of the metal toolboxes, along with receipts for the purchase of the toolboxes, linked the couple to the crime, reported India Today. The agency revealed that the couple had orchestrated 37 consignments to Australia since June 2019, with 22 acting as decoys and 15 containing cocaine. “Arti Dhar and Kavaljitsinh Raijada used their insider knowledge of the air freight industry to traffic cocaine worth tens of millions of pounds from the UK to Australia, where they knew they could maximise their revenue,” PTI quoted Piers Phillips, a senior investigating officer at the NCA, as saying. The couple were arrested on 21 June 2021 at their Hanwell residence. They strongly denied the charges of exporting cocaine to Australia and of money laundering. However, the jury convicted them on 12 counts of exportation and 18 counts of money laundering, as per NDTV. “The NCA worked closely with our partners in Australia and the UK Border Force to dismantle the supply chain created by Dhir and Raijada and bring them to justice,” he added to outline the collaborative effort between British and Australian agencies. Detective Superintendent Peter Faux, Commander of the New South Wales Police Force Organised Crime Squad (Australia), commended the international collaboration, noting, “Serious and organised criminal networks often have no borders, which is why working collaboratively with our international counterparts is so important to tackle what is a global issue.” Hidden wealth exposed Investigations carried out in February last year exposed the extent of the couple’s hidden wealth in London. According to the reports, NCA officers uncovered almost three million pounds in cash stuffed inside boxes and suitcases at a storage unit in West London. Financial inquiries revealed that despite declaring meager profits, the couple had purchased a two-bedroom apartment in a luxury development in Ealing for 800,000 pounds (~Rs 8.5 crore) and a Land Rover for 62,000 pounds. Their cash deposits of nearly 740,000 pounds into 22 different bank accounts since 2019 raised suspicions of extensive money laundering. The couple were found in possession of gold-plated silver bars worth about £5,000 (~Rs 5 lakh), £13,870 (~Rs 14.60 lakh) at their home, and £59,000 (~Rs 62 lakh) in a safe deposit box. The NCA is set to initiate Proceeds of Crime proceedings to seize all of these assets. “They kept their illicit profits in cash at their home and in storage units, as well as purchasing property, gold and silver in an attempt to hide their wealth. These defendants may have thought they were removed from the misery caused by the drugs trade, but their greed was fuelling it,” Phillips said. Double murder allegations in India According to The Times of India, Dhir and Raijada are accused of plotting the murder of their 12-year-old adopted son, Gopal Sejani, and Raijada’s brother-in-law Harsukhbhai Chaganbhai Kardani, in Gujarat. The couple allegedly planned to obtain the proceeds from a claim on a Rs 1.3 crore insurance policy that Dhir took out for Sejani. The couple reportedly placed an advertisement in a local newspaper, enticing prospective parents with the promise of bringing an adopted child to live in London. Gopal, a farm boy living with his older sister and her husband, became the target of their plan, as per another NDTV report. On 8 February 2017, Sejani and Kardani were attacked by two masked assassins in Junagadh’s Keshod. They later died in the hospital from knife injuries. Dhir and Raijada are alleged to have paid Nitish Mund Rs 5 lakh to hire the assassins, as per TOI. The couple was arrested in the UK later that year; however, they successfully avoided extradition to face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, attempting to commit murder, kidnapping, and abduction for the purpose of committing murder and abetting a crime. The duo denied the allegations, which have never been tested in court, but a judge in the extradition case found there was a “prima facie case” against them. However, she said they should not be sent to India because if they were found guilty, “they would be imprisoned for life with no prospect of release,” which would breach their human rights, according to a 2020 High Court judgment upholding the decision. As per TOI, the discussion came despite the Indian government’s assurance that the couple would be eligible to apply for remission. With inputs from agencies