Birmingham Crown Court Sentencing Results

Gabriele Trinkunaite, 26, of Taylor Road, Wolverhampton, acted as a courier in a major cocaine supply network that flooded the UK with over 170 kilograms of the drug, valued at £13.6 million, between April and August 2022. The operation involved encrypted communications and careful planning of handovers. She was arrested on January 14, 2025.

Sindija Virse, 28, of Birch Grove, Lower Stondon, Bedfordshire, served as a courier for a Wolverhampton-based cocaine network that supplied more than 170 kilograms of cocaine worth £13.6 million across the UK from April to August 2022. The group employed sophisticated methods including encrypted apps and reconnaissance of sites. She was arrested at her home on January 15, 2025.

Shahrukh Hummayiun, 29, of Langsett Road, Wolverhampton, organised a sophisticated cocaine supply network that delivered more than 170 kilograms of cocaine worth £13.6 million between April and August 2022. The group used passwords, codenames, encrypted messaging apps like Wickr, and last-minute meeting locations to conceal their activities. He was detained at Gatwick Airport on January 15, 2025, while attempting to flee to Dubai.

Rubanpreet Kaur, 26, of Chapel Street, Wolverhampton, was a courier in an organised crime network supplying over 170 kilograms of cocaine, valued at £13.6 million, to London and the UK between April and August 2022. The operation used codenames, passwords, and encrypted messaging for coordination. She was arrested at her home on January 15, 2025.

Zeeshan Ashraf, an accountant from Hall Green in Birmingham, used his company AZ Certified Accounting Limited to defraud Covid-19 support schemes between April 2020 and April 2021. He obtained £50,000 bounce back loans from each of Barclays, Starling, and NatWest banks after inflating his company's turnover, and spent the money on his personal lifestyle. He also fraudulently received £91,174 under the Covid Job Retention Scheme by making false or unauthorised applications on behalf of business clients, and obtained £26,928 from the Eat Out to Help Out scheme by making applications for hospitality companies that did not exist or did not operate in the restaurant trade. He unsuccessfully tried to claim a further £14,651 under the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Mohamoud Mahamoud, 29, from West Drayton, Greater London, drove a white Peugeot Partner van to Allman Road, Sutton Coldfield, on 10 April 2024. He removed a black holdall containing 21 individual kilogram blocks of cocaine from the van and placed it into the boot of a silver Honda CR-V where Benjamin Holt was waiting, while Adam Vorster was nearby. Police stopped the transfer and found three further holdalls and two bags in the van holding 81 more kilogram blocks of cocaine, making a total seizure with an estimated street value of up to £10.2 million. Mahamoud pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a class A drug.

Adam Vorster, 41, of no fixed address, was present at a meeting in Allman Road, Sutton Coldfield, on 10 April 2024. He was next to a silver Honda CR-V when Mohamoud Mahamoud arrived in a white Peugeot Partner van and passed a black holdall containing 21 kilograms of cocaine to the Honda. Police intervened and seized the holdall, then discovered additional holdalls and bags in the van containing a further 81 kilograms of cocaine, with an overall street value of up to £10.2 million. Vorster admitted conspiracy to supply a class A drug.

Benjamin Holt, 43, a dog breeder from Horam, East Sussex, was the driver of a silver Honda CR-V that was used in a drug deal on 10 April 2024 in Allman Road, Sutton Coldfield. During a prearranged meeting, Mohamoud Mahamoud transferred a black holdall containing 21 kilogram blocks of cocaine from his white Peugeot Partner van to Holt’s vehicle, while Adam Vorster stood nearby. Police arrested all three at the scene. A subsequent search revealed further holdalls and bags in the van holding a total of 81 additional kilogram blocks of cocaine, bringing the seizure to 102 kilograms with an estimated street value of up to £10.2 million. Holt admitted conspiracy to supply a class A drug.

In August 2024, Sam Job, a 26-year-old operations manager at a cash delivery company, stole £25,000 from a secure vault by moving the cash in stages into his laptop bag. He became aware of the missing cash the next day and participated in the internal investigation, frequently asking for updates. He returned £1,000 in the original bag but fled after confrontation, leaving his work phone logged into Snapchat. Messages revealed plans for a fake passport to flee abroad and searches for media coverage. He was arrested in Manchester on September 15, 2024, with £18,000 and company cash bags recovered from his car.

Michael Earp, 32, of Pear Tree Road, Shard End, was second-in-command in the drug gang led by Danyal Aziz, handling conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin valued at £2.5 million wholesale over three months in 2020 Covid lockdown. The gang used EncroChat. Earp's car had a hidden compartment for cocaine behind the radio. The group had access to a Skorpion machine gun and three pistols. Earp received directions from Aziz on drug money deliveries and stock updates. Part of Operation Venetic investigation uncovering 20,000+ messages.

Danyal Aziz, 29, of Pelham Road, Stechford, led a drug gang involved in conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin with a wholesale value of about £2.5 million over a three-month period during the 2020 Covid lockdown. The gang used EncroChat for encrypted communications. Aziz possessed a Skorpion machine gun and ammunition, discussed using it to intimidate rivals and customers owing money, and directed operations including drug deliveries and purchases. The investigation, part of Operation Venetic, uncovered over 20,000 messages and photos of bullets on his phone. He was also involved in money laundering. The Skorpion was test-fired in lab conditions, showing its high risk.

Andrew Bell, a 56-year-old Jaguar Land Rover worker and father-of-five from Solihull, participated in a tax scam referred to as 'Tommy's Tax'. He received a rebate of more than £50,000 and evaded nearly £20,000 in tax for the years 2021 and 2022 by submitting fraudulent claims, influenced by a third-party financial advisor who encouraged multiple employees to commit the fraud.

Ghazanfar Khan, aged 45, of Tividale Road, Tipton, targeted sellers of expensive items including luxury watches, laptops and phones on Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree using a fake name. He arranged meetings to collect the items and, with accomplice Kulwarn Chagger posing as a banker, paid with false cheques that bounced. The fraud occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic between June 2020 and February 2021, defrauding over a dozen victims for just over £100,000 in total.

Kulwarn Chagger, aged 51, of Kingsclere Walk, Wolverhampton, acted as an accomplice to Ghazanfar Khan by posing as a banker over the phone to facilitate payments with false cheques in a scam targeting sellers on online marketplaces. The fraud took place during the Covid-19 pandemic from June 2020 to February 2021, resulting in over £100,000 stolen from more than a dozen victims through bounced cheques after handing over goods.

Kulvir Shergill headed an organised crime group that imported approximately 250kg of cocaine into the United Kingdom between February 26 and April 24, 2020, with a street value of £20 million. He used the EncroChat platform to arrange deals with contacts in the Netherlands and distribute the drugs to other organised crime groups around the country. He was arrested in 2020 following the investigation.

Dean Isaac, aged 35 from Lymington Road, Torquay, distributed cannabis as part of a conspiracy that brought drugs from Merseyside and Birmingham to Torquay between September and November 2021.

Jamie Hadley, aged 32 from Kingstanding Road, Birmingham, led a conspiracy that brought large quantities of cannabis from Merseyside and Birmingham to Torquay between September and November 2021. The operation involved transporting drugs and cash, which was uncovered by police investigations.

Joshua Fullerton, aged 28 from Lincombe Drive, Torquay, organised and controlled the supply of class B drugs and money laundering as part of a conspiracy bringing cannabis and cocaine from Merseyside and Birmingham to Torquay between September and November 2021.

Patrik Quarless, aged 24 from Graburn Road, Formby, was involved in a conspiracy to supply cocaine as part of a gang that brought drugs from Merseyside and Birmingham to Torquay between September and November 2021.

Toi Banh, aged 37 from Masshouse Plaza, Birmingham, organised money laundering as part of a conspiracy that brought large quantities of cannabis from Merseyside and Birmingham to Torquay between September and November 2021.

Daniel Beattie, aged 24 from Morcroft Road, Liverpool, was involved as a courier in a conspiracy to supply cocaine, which was part of a larger operation bringing drugs from Merseyside and Birmingham to Torquay between September and November 2021.

Craig Bentick, aged 26 from Fonthill Road, Kirkdale, Liverpool, distributed cannabis in Torquay as part of a conspiracy that transported drugs from Merseyside and Birmingham between September and November 2021.