Wembley gang jailed for importing unregulated pills from India

IN A significant bust, the City of London Police dismantled a large-scale pharmaceutical drug smuggling operation, leading to the sentencing of three individuals at Southwark Crown Court.

Salman Ansari, 33, of Wembley, received six years for 12 counts of drug possession with intent to supply (Class A, B, and C drugs), one count of conspiracy to supply Class C drugs, and money laundering. Waqas Saleem, also 33 and from Wembley, received a two-and-a-half-year sentence for the same charges. Juhi Ansari, 32, was sentenced to a suspended term with 100 hours of unpaid work and 25 days of rehabilitation for money laundering.

The operation, which originated from the illegal importation of drugs from India, saw over 1 million pills, weighing around 730 kilograms, seized, including tapentadol, tramadol, zolpidem, and nitrazepam—drugs linked to serious health risks due to their sedative effects.

Following a US Customs and Border referral in October 2020, City of London Police’s Serious Organised Crime Team (SOCT) traced packages back to Salman Ansari and Waqas Saleem.

SOCT coordinated with agencies like the FDA, US Homeland Security, and UK Border Force, leading to successful warrants in Vermont, USA, and additional arrests in July 2021. Their Wembley storage unit contained thousands of blister packs of unregulated drugs, and 175 items were seized.

Financial investigations revealed that Salman Ansari managed 11 bank accounts with a turnover of £1.09m, far exceeding his declared income. Funds were also transferred through cryptocurrency and sent to India.

Transactions between Salman Ansari, his wife Juhi, and Saleem totalled over £419,000, pointing to complex money laundering tactics.

City of London Police urged the public against purchasing unregulated pharmaceuticals due to health risks.

Special agent Fernando McMillan of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, New York, and Special Agent Michael J Krol of Homeland Security Investigations praised the international collaboration that helped dismantle the smuggling ring.