Indian-Origin Man Sentenced to 10 Years for £4 Million Heroin Smuggling Conspiracy to UK

Rajesh Bakshi, a 57-year-old Indian-origin man, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after admitting to conspiracy to smuggle heroin into the UK. His co-conspirator, Jon-Paul Clark, 44, received a nine-year sentence following a trial at Canterbury Crown Court in south-eastern England.

Bakshi, from the East Lothian region of Scotland, had pleaded guilty after a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation identified his fingerprints on a heroin consignment with a street value of 4 million pounds. The drug shipment was intercepted at the port of Dover in June 2022.

Clark attempted to deny involvement, claiming to the jury that his DNA was found on the smuggled drugs only because he had been wearing Bakshi's sweater. However, this defense was unsuccessful.

Jules Harriman, NCA's Senior Investigating Officer, stated: "My officers built a solid case against Clark, who clearly tried to pull the wool over the jury's eyes. There was clear evidence of his guilt and the jury saw through his attempts to cheat justice. Both offenders didn't have the slightest care for the impact class A drugs have on our communities."

Harriman added, "The NCA, working with partners at home and abroad, will continue to do everything possible to fight the threat of Class A drugs."

The NCA investigation revealed that both men's phones were tracked traveling through the Netherlands and Belgium in the days leading up to the seizure at the UK port. Officers discovered a photo of Clark and Bakshi together on Clark's phone taken just days before the drugs were intercepted. Text messages were also found showing Clark asking Bakshi for cash in the weeks following the seizure.

The court heard that Bakshi had multiple previous convictions, including conspiring and being involved with the supply of controlled substances.