Dingy London flat hid incredible spoils of Ealing Escobars’ £700m cocaine racket… including gold bars hidden in punchbag

THEIR humble suburban life revealed nothing of their secret identities.

Neighbors of Arti Dhir and her husband Kavala Raijad might have raised an eyebrow at the 15-year age gap between them; she was a stern-looking matronly type, while he dressed smartly in sharp suits.

Filthy West London flat that hid the loot from a £700m clandestine cocaine racket Credit: NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY

Arti Dhir and her husband Kaval Raijada were sentenced to 33 years each this weekCredit: NCA

In the apartment, seven gold-plated bars were found in a punching bag

But they had no idea that the low-profile couple, who kept a grimy West London housing association flat, had not only escaped extradition for the murder of an 11-year-old boy in India, but were two of Britain’s biggest drug lords.

Dhir, 59, and Raijada, 35 – the Escobars from Ealing – were this week jailed for 33 years each for smuggling £700m of cocaine into Australia between 2019 and 2021.

They set up a Breaking Bad-style car wash to launder their ill-gotten gains, moved £3m in boxes and suitcases around various warehouses in London and hid seven gold-plated bars in a punching bag in their flat.

Officers from the National Crime Agency told the Sun the pair spent at least four years planning their criminal enterprise – even taking jobs with a transport company to learn how to move goods through customs.

They were so brazen that they continued to hatch drug-smuggling schemes while fighting extradition from the UK to India, where they were accused of plotting to kill their adopted son to grab £150,000 in insurance.

NCA Senior Investigator Piers Phillips said: “We believe they have been planning this operation for a long time, potentially as far back as 2015.

“During that period they were subject to extradition proceedings which may have delayed their drug-trafficking venture, but certainly did not stop it.”

Neighbors in the posh Ealing town of Hanwell, famous for its zoo and lovely promenades along the Grand Union Canal, said they had no idea the “odd couple” were criminal masterminds.

Gopal Sejani, 11, was killed by a group on motorbikes Credit: BBC

The NCA says the pair were given jobs at a transport company to learn how to move goods through customs. Credit: NCA

Bundle of £50 notes found hidden in flat Credit: NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY

Cleaner Rose O’Sullivan remembers a small talk with her seemingly friendly neighbor Arti Dhir two years ago.

Rose, 52, said: “I was working in the garden when she leaned out the back window to say hello. She seemed like a nice and normal person.

“I remember asking her how she was and she said she was fine. We talked about how nice the weather was and simple things like.

“The only other time I saw her was when she was taking out her buckets. She wore a traditional Indian costume and said goodbye.

“I never saw her husband, but they had a beautiful car that was always parked in front of their apartment.

It was a very modest apartment without much furniture. There was nothing beautiful about the property

NCA officer Leigh Facey

“I was absolutely shocked when I read about the crimes they committed. I had no idea she was a bad woman. If I had known what she was like, I would have stayed away from her.”

Another woman, who lived in the same row of trees in Hanwell and asked not to be named, said: “They seemed like an odd couple.

“I only saw them a few times, but it was obvious that they were together, and he was so much younger than her, that they stood out because of the age difference.

“Everyone here is shocked because this is a nice quiet area and we don’t expect to be sharing the road with drug dealers.”

Learned the tricks of the trade at Heathrow

Dhir and Raijada might never have met if she hadn’t needed help with her dying father.

British national Dhir arrived in the UK as a child in the 60s when many Asians left their lives in African countries due to persecution.

She met Raijad around 2010 when he traveled from India to Britain to study, but ended up taking a job with Dhir’s family caring for her elderly father.

The couple got married in 2013 and soon hatched a get-rich-quick scheme.

By the time they married, Dhir had already spent 10 years working with a flight services company at Heathrow Airport, handling paperwork and documentation for goods.

Raijada joined her at the company in March 2014 before they both left within months of each other in late 2016.

Police believe the pair used the skills they learned to set up their own air freight company called Vielfy Freight Services – used as a front to export £700 million worth of cocaine to Australia.

They seemed like an odd couple to me. I only saw them a few times, but it was obvious that they were together, and he was much younger than her, the age difference made them stand out

Neighbor

However, the shameless couple has already made headlines for allegedly plotting to kill their adopted son in India.

The couple, who have no children of their own, are accused of orchestrating the murder of tragic orphan Gopal Sejani in 2017 after they secured his life.

Indian authorities say they arranged to take him away from the farm where he lived a poor life with his older sister, promising a comfortable life in London.

Officers say Dhir took out a £150,000 insurance policy on Gopal which would pay out after 10 years – or in the event of death.

When Gopal was abducted by two men on motorcycles, stabbed and left by the side of the road, suspicion perhaps naturally fell on Dhir and Raijada.

Time frame of the criminal operation

2013 – Arti Dhir and Kaval Raijada got married. He worked as a carer and took care of her father.

2014 – Raijada joins his wife working for an air cargo company at Heathrow.

2016 – A couple of them leave the company and found their own company for the transportation of goods.

February 2017 – 11-year-old Gopal Sejani, an orphan, is kidnapped and assaulted in India.

July 2019 – The couple fight extradition to India over Gopal’s death – and win.

2019 – The couple start moving money around – depositing £740,000 into 22 different bank accounts over two years.

June 2021 – Dhir and Raijada are arrested at their home in Hanwell, West London. Officers find £5,000 worth of bullion in a punching bag, £60,000 in a safe and £13,000 lying around the property.

February 2023 – A couple are arrested for a second time after NCA officers find almost £3 million in cash hidden in boxes and suitcases at a warehouse in Hanwell.

Gopal’s brother-in-law Harsukh Kardani was also attacked while trying to defend the boy and both died of their wounds later in hospital.

Britain’s chief justice ruled that there was strong evidence to convict the couple thanks to the confession of one of the killers and the payments made to him.

However, British courts have rejected requests to extradite the couple to face trial in India because a conviction would have seen them sentenced without the possibility of a pardon – a breach of their human rights.

They were left to walk the streets freely before the cocaine was brought into the UK to be transported to Australia, where it costs three to four times more on the streets.

Secrets of a shabby apartment

Officers say the pair were not suspected of drug trafficking at all when Australian Border Force found six metal toolboxes full of 514kg of cocaine on a commercial flight from the UK in May 2021.

The National Crime Agency traced the paperwork for the shipment back to Dhir and Raijada’s company Viefly. Officers raided their home in Hanwell in June 2021.

NCA officer Leigh Facey said there was nothing unusual or flashy about the way the couple lived.

She said: “It was a very modest flat without much furniture.

“There was nothing nice about the property. When we searched and found £13,000 in random places, in drawers and tables and £60,000 in a safe.

“Then we found what are believed to be gold bars inside a punching bag. It later turned out that the bars were gilded silver.

“We have information indicating that one of the bars was sold with Dhir believing it to be gold so it is possible that it was potentially robbed.”

European capital of cocaine

BRITISH people are the biggest users of cocaine in Europe, according to a report.

Figures for England and Wales show that 2.7 per cent of people aged 15 to 64 use drugs each year.

That equates to roughly 1.02 million of us, or one in every 37 people.

Use is twice as high among men as among women, with one in 26 men admitting it compared to one in 63 women.

The statistics of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development rank us highest in Europe and in second place out of 41 countries of the developed world, lower than Australia with 4.2 percent.

Britons even appear to use drugs more than people in Mexico (0.8 percent) and Colombia (0.62 percent).

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 872 people died from cocaine poisoning in England and Wales in 2021 – more than double the 369 in 2015.

The number of deaths from all drugs is a record with 4,907 in 2022.

As NCA officers continued to investigate the couple, they became desperate to launder their ill-gotten gains.

They bought an £800,000 one-bedroom flat in Ealing, a £62,000 Land Rover and bought a car wash franchise in Harrow. The couple claimed £200,000 had gone through the books in just 11 months.

Officers then discovered details on Raijada’s phone which showed he was paying for a storage unit in west London. When officers raided, they found £3 million in cash in cardboard boxes and boxes.

They also held £740,000 in cash in 22 different bank accounts.

Despite almost being caught in the act, the couple tried to distance themselves from the drug conspiracy.

They claimed they got the money from wealthy family members, but the jury refused to believe them and they were convicted on 12 counts of drug export and 18 counts of money laundering.

Clerk Leigh Facey described Dhir as “sarcastic” in court, while Raijada “thought he was the smartest person in the room”.

Their love affair came under the spotlight in court where the couple insisted their union was genuine and Raijada said neither had many friends – and neither family attended the case.

Senior Investigating Officer Phillips said the scale of smuggling into Australia by the duo was “almost unprecedented”.