Third member of cocaine and heroin gang convicted

A third member of an organised crime group (OCG) conspiring to import more than £360 million of class A drugs has been convicted.

Shakeel Razaq, 43, of Mansfield Road, Luton, was yesterday (Tuesday) found guilty of conspiring to import and supply class A drugs through his role as a leading member of a criminal network of drug dealers.

An investigation by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) found that he was responsible for the sourcing and logistics of the UK side of the operation, acting as a middleman between other dealers and a supplier in Turkey.

Detectives established Razaq was behind the EncroChat handle 'Zeroalliance', which he used to organise colossal amounts of heroin and cocaine to be flown into the country.

In a joint operation between ERSOU and Border Force in 2020, officers seized a shipment 156kg of heroin bound for the UK market, in one of the biggest drugs seizures across the UK that year.

Further messages on Razaq's device indicated he was involved importing huge amounts of drugs, with messages referencing shipments totalling 3,058kg of cocaine and 2,357kg of heroin.

If successfully imported and ultimately broken down into 'street deals', the potential value of these drugs would have been over £361 million.

Razaq worked closely with Denis Xhelili, formerly of New Park Avenue, London, who had contacts abroad willing to hide the drugs within hollowed out pallets in shipments heading into the country.

Xhelili was previously jailed for ten years, with Sulaiman Bawa, formerly of Peacock Avenue, London, previously jailed for seven-and-a-half years for using his cargo company as a front to import drugs into the UK via air freight.

The trio had used the encrypted communications tool Encrochat to plan their activities in an attempt to evade law enforcement. 

However, Encrochat servers were seized under Operation Venetic, which uncovered thousands of message exchanges by criminals.

Following a two-week trial at Luton Crown Court, Razaq was found guilty of conspiracy to import and conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin.

He was also found guilty of twice breaching a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO), which had been handed to him following a previous conviction for heroin importation.

Detective Constable Hayley Kendall, from ERSOU's Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: "Razaq is a career criminal who paid no regard for the significant harm heroin and cocaine causes.

"He's now facing a significant spell behind bars, and our region is a safer place with Razaq and his associates removed from causing further damage to our communities.

"ERSOU's teams of specialist investigators and analysts are committed to tackling the most entrenched criminals who believe they are beyond the reach of the law, and we will continue to work tirelessly to protect the eastern region from organised crime".