Wolverhampton smugglers jailed after multi-million pound cocaine network dismantled
A group of drug smugglers, including three from Wolverhampton, involved in a major supply network flooding the UK with cocaine have been sentenced following a major investigation.
Officers from the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police Service, working together as part of the Organised Crime Partnership, uncovered the operation which regularly supplied large quantities of drugs into London and across the UK.
Between April and August 2022, the group delivered more than 170 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of £13.6 million. The network used passwords, codenames and encrypted messaging apps to conceal their identities, with meeting locations only shared at the last minute.
The operation began to unravel on June 16, 2022 when Arvinder Bains, 39, of Finsbury Drive, Priorslee, Telford, was stopped by officers in London while carrying out a delivery. A search of his vehicle uncovered 10 kilos of high-purity cocaine worth around £80,000. Analysis of his mobile phone later revealed he was part of a wider conspiracy to supply 22 kilos of the drug that day.
Further enquiries identified Shahrukh Hummayiun, 29, of Langsett Road, Wolverhampton, as the organiser coordinating three couriers: Sindija Virse, 28, of Birch Grove, Lower Stondon, Bedfordshire; Gabriele Trinkunaite, 26, of Taylor Road, Wolverhampton; and Rubanpreet Kaur, 26, of Chapel Street, Wolverhampton.
The group used the encrypted messaging platform Wickr to arrange meetings and share vehicle details, including those of the Nissan X-Trail used by Bains. Messages also showed the gang carrying out reconnaissance of meeting sites and carefully planning drug handovers.
Trinkunaite was arrested on January 14, 2025. Hummayiun was detained the following day at Gatwick Airport as he attempted to flee to Dubai. Kaur and Virse were also arrested at their home addresses on the same day.
At Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, March 23, the four were sentenced to a combined total of 30 years and five months in prison. Hummayiun received 10 years and nine months, Trinkunaite seven years and eight months, Virse six years and eight months, and Kaur five years and four months.
Bains had previously been sentenced to nine years in prison in December 2022 after being convicted of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
Detective Inspector Richard Smith, from the Organised Crime Partnership, said: “This criminal enterprise was sophisticated and far reaching.
“The group brazenly supplied multiple communities with dangerous class A drugs without a care for the consequences.
“Thanks to the work of the dedicated investigators on the OCP, we were able to dismantle this network and eliminate the risk they pose to the public.”
