Cocaine worth £17m hidden in Gouda cheese: Blackburn man jailed 27 years

Saleem Chaudhri, 46, was jailed for 27.5 years after police found 217kg of cocaine hidden in cheese blocks and bin bags at a Blackburn industrial unit.

Blackburn drug smuggler jailed after largest-ever Lancashire cocaine haul found in cheese

A Blackburn man has been sentenced to 27 years and six months in prison after Lancashire Police discovered 217kg of cocaine — with a street value exceeding £17 million — concealed inside blocks of Gouda cheese and black bin bags at an industrial unit, bbc.com reports.

Saleem Chaudhri, 46, was arrested on 3 May 2023 following a raid on a unit at the Old Fire Station in Blackburn. Officers had observed him taking possession of a Toyota Estate from a drugs courier shortly before his arrest and driving it to the premises. When police ordered him to open the shutters, they uncovered 478lb of cocaine inside — the largest single haul ever seized in Lancashire.

Part of the consignment had been imported from Belgium, hidden within wheels of Gouda cheese. Further packages were recovered from black bin bags and were described as "ready to be handed to couriers". On the day of his arrest alone, Chaudhri had arranged to pass 148lb to one courier and 139lb to another.

His courier, Rieadul Mohabath, 28, from South Shields in Tyne and Wear, was arrested at his home on 3 July. Officers recovered a significant quantity of cash, a cash-counting machine, and suspected Class A drugs of varying weights during that search. A separate search of Chaudhri's home in Waterside, Blackburn, produced nearly £10,000 in cash.

Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine at Preston Crown Court. Mohabath received a 16-year sentence. Together, the pair had agreed to sell more than 2,000kg of cocaine for in excess of £70 million between September 2022 and May 2023.

Detective Sergeant Haydn Sibley, speaking after sentencing, said Chaudhri and his associates had gone "to great lengths to hide their product" and noted that the quantity seized explained why. "When we arrested Chaudhri, you could see by the look on his face that his world had crumbled," Sibley said. "That is reflected by the significant sentence he has received today."

The case forms part of a wider investigation in which 18 people in total have been convicted in connection with the operation, which smuggled an estimated £450 million worth of cocaine into the United Kingdom.

Source: The Sun