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London: An Indian-origin boss of an organised crime group who claimed he was a male escort while masterminding international conspiracies to import huge sums of cocaine into the UK has been sentenced to 21 years and three months in jail.
Kulvir Shergill, 43, from the West Midlands region of England, told National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators he made his money through male escort bookings, teaching martial arts and lucrative personal trainer work.
However, the NCA investigation discovered that Shergill’s crime group imported around 250kg of cocaine with a street value of GBP 20 million between February 26 and April 24, 2020, and they used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to arrange the deals.
Shergill and his accomplices are “directly responsible for the horrendous consequences Class A drugs (banned) have among our communities,” said Rick Mackenzie, NCA operations manager.
“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 [Crown Prosecution Service] to ensure that any money made from their drug enterprise is recovered,” he said.
The investigation found that using the EncroChat handle “orderlyswarmer”, Shergill arranged premises for Class A drugs to be delivered to in the UK. 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, following which he denied smuggling Class A drugs but eventually admitted the offence.
On September 20 last year, Shergill was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court and the news can be reported now after the final member of his gang, 43-year-old Jagdeep Singh, was jailed for the same offences this week.
Singh was an electrician by trade, and was tasked with taking receipt of drug deliveries and acting as a warehouseman. At the time of his arrest in 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, jailed for 14 years and four months as Shergill’s second-in-command and was a trusted worker.
Shakfat Ali, 38, who travelled around the UK on the OCG’s behalf and is believed to have delivered drugs, was jailed for 16 years and nine months; and Mohammed Sajad, 44, a trusted member of the group, was jailed for 16 years.
Sajad 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.
“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,” added Mackenzie.
The probe forms part of the NCA-led Operation Venetic, the UK response to the takedown of EncroChat.
This post was last modified on June 6, 2025 9:22 pm