WIREDGOV

The boss of a West Midlands organised crime group who claimed he was a male escort has been jailed for 21 years and three months, following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.

Kulvir Shergill, 43, told NCA investigators he made his money through male escort bookings, teaching martial arts and lucrative personal trainer work.

The truth was his organised crime group was at the centre of international conspiracies to import huge sums of cocaine into the United Kingdom.

Shergill’s OCG imported around 250kg of cocaine with a street value of £20m between 26 February and 24 April 2020, and they used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to arrange the deals.

Using the EncroChat handle ‘orderlyswarmer’, Shergill, of Bhullar Way, Oldbury, arranged premises in the UK for Class A drugs to be delivered to.

He would liaise with conspirators in the Netherlands who would inform him of impending deliveries before his group distributed them to other OCGs around the country.

Shergill and his accomplices were arrested on different dates in 2020.

He denied smuggling class A drugs but eventually admitted the offence.

On 20 September last year he was jailed for 21 years at Birmingham Crown Court.

On 5 June 2025, the final member of the OCG, 43-year-old Jagdeep Singh of Bloomfield Road, Tipton, was jailed for the same offences.

He was an electrician by trade, and was tasked with taking receipt of drugs deliveries and acting as a warehouseman.

At the time of his arrest, on 23 April 2020, he was in possession of 30kg of high purity cocaine. He has now been sentenced to six years and eight months behind bars.

Three other OCG members were also sentenced last September.

Khurram Mohammed, 37, of Barker Street, Oldbury, was jailed for 14 years and four months.

Mohammed was Shergill’s second-in-command and was a trusted worker.

Shakfat Ali, 38, of Douglas Road, Oldbury, travelled around the UK on the OCG’s behalf and is believed to have delivered drugs. He was jailed for 16 years and nine months.

Mohammed Sajad, 44, of Norton Crescent, Birmingham, was a trusted member of the group. He was jailed for 16 years.

He was already serving a seven-year sentence before these offences after West Midlands Police, in May 2020, found six firearms, a large amount of ammunition and a quantity of Class A drugs at his house.

Rick Mackenzie, NCA operations manager, said:

“These offenders formed a significant crime group in the West Midlands and had far-reaching contacts to help them peddle drugs all around the UK.

“Shergill and his accomplices are directly responsible for the horrendous consequences Class A drugs have among our communities.

“The NCA and partners at home and abroad will continue to fight the threat of illegal drugs.

“Proceeds of crime proceedings have been started and all identified assets owned by the defendants have been frozen and are currently under restraint. The NCA will work with our partners at the CPS to ensure that any money made from their drug enterprise is recovered.”

The NCA lead Operation Venetic, the UK response to the takedown of EncroChat.