WIREDGOV

A 36-year-old man who acted as a drugs wholesaler to dealers in the West Midlands has been jailed for 13 years, following an investigation by the joint National Crime Agency (NCA) and Met Police Organised Crime Partnership (OCP).

Daljinder Bassi used his house on Stafford Road in Wolverhampton to cut, package and store large quantities of heroin and cocaine before selling it on to dealers in the West Midlands.

OCP officers, with support from West Midlands police, arrested him in October 2017 as he drove along the M6 with three kilos of heroin in his car.

Officers searching his home found cash and class A drugs in powder, rock and block form concealed in various hiding places, including under the floorboards, beneath the insulation in the loft and within the wall cavities.

The cash hidden in the walls was only accessible from the loft using a home-made pulley system.

Officers seized £737,000 in cash and a further 22kg of heroin, cocaine and mixing agents. The total drugs recovered would have had a total estimated street value of £2.5 million.

A hydraulic press which investigators believe Bassi used to pack the drugs into blocks, and two ledgers comprised of customer details and their orders were also seized.

On 30 October 2017, Bassi pleaded guilty to three counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs. He was sentenced today at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Matt McMillan from the Organised Crime Partnership, said: “Bassi was a major distributor of class A drugs in the West Midlands.

“By shutting down his illegal enterprise, not only have we have eliminated a key link in the chain between high end traffickers and street level dealers, but a huge amount of cash has been removed from the criminal economy”.