City police dismantle Organised Crime Group smuggling high-strength cannabis in air passengers’ suitcases and laundering millions

Two men who controlled an organised crime group (OCG) involved in laundering £5 million and arranging the transportation of hundreds of kilos of Californian cannabis in the UK have been jailed.

Tejpal Vig, 36, of Newton Road, Denham, and Rikesh Shah, 33, of Bute Close, Barnet, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class B drugs and money laundering.

They have both been sentenced to eight years and six months for conspiracy to supply class B drugs and eight years to money laundering to run concurrently.

The criminal network was dismantled by the City of London Police’s Serious Organised Crime Team, working in partnership with the National Crime Agency.  These investigations led to the seizure of multiple strains of hybrid Californian cannabis.

The ringleaders of the OCG communicated with their associates via messaging apps, with Vig being known as Snoop and Shah as Romeo.

The pair controlled an international drug conspiracy and regional distribution crime syndicate.  They used a business address in Southall to store and distribute the cannabis and a courier to distribute the product nationwide. 

The profits made from their criminal enterprise were subject to significant money laundering, utilising cryptocurrency to take the criminally derived funds from the UK jurisdiction.

Between 2 September 2022 and 26 September 2022, Vig and Shah laundered £465,000 in cash, highlighting the scale of their operation.

On 18 September 2024, the City of London Police coordinated an operation to shut down the network, conducting simultaneous warrants across London. 

Vig and Shah were planning to move to Dubai later that week, with removal vans at the scene and their property boxed up for export.  

Searches of their addresses recovered 48.2 kilograms of cannabis and more than £55,000 cash. Officers also discovered cryptocurrency hardware wallets, documentation and paraphernalia relating to the supply of drugs.

After the arrests, the Serious Organised Crime Team worked meticulously to identify the control and use of cryptocurrency, based on evidence seized from the home address. 

Specialist investigators identified the movement of $10.9 million dollars from wallets controlled by the group.  Other transactions showed involvement in much wider money laundering, with the funds being moved from the UK.

Detective Constable Sally Lewin, City of London Police, said:

“This investigation exposed a sophisticated criminal network that flooded the UK with high-strength Californian cannabis, generating substantial profits which were then funnelled through money-laundering schemes, including the use of cryptocurrencies. Cannabis-related organised crime causes real harm, with offenders exploiting vulnerable people and prioritising profit over the wellbeing of our communities.

“These convictions send a clear message: those involved in drug supply and the laundering of criminal proceeds will be identified, disrupted and brought to justice. We are relentless in our pursuit of both offenders and their illicit profits.

“This successful investigation is a testament to the exceptional skill, professionalism and unwavering tenacity of former Detective Sergeant Darren Norman, who has since retired from the City of London Police. His dedication and determination were instrumental in securing this outcome.

“This case highlights the vast sums that organised crime groups can make from large-scale cannabis distribution, but it should also serve as a stark warning that those who choose to profit from this criminality can expect to face the full force of the law.”

Two brothers were also jailed by acting as middlemen for Vig and Shah in their part of the drug distribution network. Hariharan Pillai, 27,and Sudarsan Pillai, 29, both of Clairvale Road, Hounslow, arranged the meeting of the drug mules to collect imported drugs.

Hariharan Pillai and Sudarsan Pillai were sentenced in December 2025 at Inner London Crown Court to five years imprisonment for drugs supply and three years for money laundering, to run concurrently.

The Pillai brothers were also supplying cannabis in their own enterprise and had control of a cryptocurrency wallet which had a turnover of $240,000 between May 2023 and June 2024.

During a search of their address, officers discovered 1.95 kilograms of cannabis, along with over £22,000 cash and a number of items of designer clothes and accessories were found.

The Pillai brothers also had control of the storage unit where £8,000 cash and a number of empty suitcases were found.

The gang operated internationally, including meeting drug mules at airports.

On 25 January 2024, Roberto Martinez met with Shah in a car park close to Heathrow Airport.  Martinez arrived from the USA with two suitcases that were passed to the OCG.

In April 2024, Martinez was arrested after he entered the UK from USA with a further two suitcases which were found to contain 28.35 kilos of cannabis. Martinez, 32, of Huntingdon Park, California, pleaded guilty to importation of cannabis and was sentenced to two years imprisonment.

On 20 May 2024, Josh O’Sullivan was arrested in Swansea after accepting delivery of around six kilograms of cannabis supplied by Vig and Shah. O’Sullivan, 28, of St Leger Crescent, St Thomas, Swansea, was jailed for four years and ten months.

On 13 December 2023, Luke Bleach, a customer of Vig and Shah and a courier for an organised crime group in Surrey, was found in possession of 5.3 kilos of cannabis and £4,650. A search of his home recovered £32,880. 

Bleach, 28, of Church Close, Lower Beeding, West Sussex, was jailed for 15 months for being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs, six months for Possession with Intent to Supply Class B and three months for money laundering to run concurrently.

According to Government data, the number of cannabis smugglers caught arriving in the UK by plane has surged from 142 in 2023 to 976 in 2025.

And in 2026, 600 air passenger couriers were arrested at UK airports in the first six months alone, with men aged 18 to 37 travelling from Thailand making up the largest group of those arrested.

City of London Police are reiterating advice from Border Force officers, alerting travellers to the warning signs of criminal exploitation:

1. Avoid “free” trips or luxury travel offers, especially to destinations where cannabis is legal, such as Thailand, Canada, and parts of the United States. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Know what’s in your luggage. Never carry someone else’s bag or travel with luggage you haven’t checked yourself. If drugs are found in your bag, even if you didn’t put them there, you could face arrest, prosecution, and a criminal record.  
3. Be wary of social media recruitment. Criminal gangs use platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram to target young people. Block and report suspicious approaches.
4. Keep your passport and documents with you. Anyone asking to hold them is a serious red flag and may be trying to control or exploit you.
5. Cannabis is not legal. Criminal gangs may try to convince you that because cannabis is legal where you are travelling, it is acceptable or low risk to bring it back to the UK. It is not. International drug smuggling is a serious criminal offence that can result in imprisonment at home and abroad.