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Duo jailed in UK for ‘cocaine oranges’ smuggled from SA after farmer unwittingly uncovers global trafficking web

Duo jailed in UK for ‘cocaine oranges’ smuggled from SA after farmer unwittingly uncovers global trafficking web
A consignment of oranges from South Africa included 49kg of cocaine that landed in the UK in 2022. (Photo: Crown Prosecution Service)
Caryn Dolley
By Caryn Dolley
10 Jan 2024
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A UK farmer once found parcels of cocaine hidden in animal feed from Colombia. This discovery led to two men being jailed in the UK recently for drug smuggling, including for a cocaine consignment concealed in a container of oranges from SA.

A farmer based in Somerset in the UK once noticed parcels, like ones he had seen in movies, in animal feed that arrived there from Colombia.

This led to him inadvertently playing a key role in the unravelling of a narcotrafficking network involving crooks who use shell companies, fake names, and ships to smuggle drugs into the UK from various countries, South Africa included.

Investigations into the syndicate started in the UK in April 2022 and recently culminated in the jailing of two smugglers there.

Anand Tripathi, 61, who ran an export and import company, and Varun Bhardwaj, 39, who worked with him, were sentenced to 15 and 19 years in jail respectively in mid-December last year.

They had faced various charges in connection with drug crimes, some linked to South Africa — via citrus fruit. 

Daily Maverick has before reported on how drugs concealed in containers of fruit were sent from South Africa to India.

Read more in Daily Maverick: SA features prominently in criminal networks trafficking drugs in fresh fruit after raids in Europe, UK

It appeared the drugs were secretly slipped into cargo and that fruit growers and exporters were not necessarily involved in the smuggling.

In another case, that Daily Maverick also previously reported on, 49kg of cocaine was found in a container of oranges sent from South Africa to the UK.

cocaine oranges A consignment of oranges from South Africa included 49kg of cocaine that landed in the UK in 2022. (Photo: Crown Prosecution Service)


Drug delivery bungle


This is where the case against Tripathi and Bhardwaj fits in.

What has happened to them marks drug busts where traffickers have been unmasked and held to account.

In November 2022 the UK’s South West Regional Organised Crime Unit released a statement saying that in April of that year, a shipping container that was transported from Colombia was delivered to a farm in Somerset in the UK.

Inside it was animal feed — and 189kg of cocaine.

It turned out that the container was not meant to have reached the farm.

According to a UK Crown Prosecution Service statement, dated 15 December 2023, traffickers were meant to have diverted it to a warehouse of theirs.

‘Like TV’


But the container was not diverted and landed on the farm, its intended destination, where “a farmer accidentally spotted” the cocaine.

“The farmer found plastic-covered blocks of cocaine with a street value of £15-million [more than R357-million] hidden amongst animal feed from Colombia,” the Crown Prosecution Service statement said.

“He was not sure what the items were but told police he had seen ‘similar packages on films and TV programmes which were drugs’”.

The farmer called the Avon and Somerset Police to report the cocaine discovery and investigations into it started.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Tik and cocaine worth billions found in consignments of apples, pears and oranges exported from SA to India

Seven months later, in November 2022, as part of those investigations, the 49kg of cocaine, concealed in a container of oranges from South Africa, was intercepted at the UK’s Port of Felixstowe.

Narcotics and cigarettes


Tripathi and Bhardwaj were among those arrested as police tried to dismantle the trafficking network.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSIWDj70cD0

The Crown Prosecution Service statement said: “The scheme involved the pair using their freight company as a cover to clear shipping containers that held drugs and cigarettes and diverting them from their intended destination to a warehouse they controlled. 

“There they would be offloaded by organised crime groups.”

During their 71-day trial in the Isleworth Crown Court, it was heard that between September 2021 and November 2022, Tripathi and Bhardwaj trafficked 272kg of cocaine, plus 2,503kg of cannabis, via four shipments. 

One of the shipments involved cannabis concealed among yams from Ghana, while another was the oranges from South Africa.

Aside from drugs, Tripathi and Bhardwaj also imported nearly 19-million cigarettes via three ships and concealed those in items including biscuits.

UK authorities said they thereby evaded “the £9.7-milllion excise and customs duty which should have been payable.” 

Import-export company


According to a South West Regional Organised Crime Unit statement from December 2023, a company, Tatab LTD, a customs clearing agent based in Hounslow in West London, was linked to the drug smuggling.

Tatab Ltd facilitated the import and export of goods.

Tripathi was its director and secretary.

A LinkedIn profile under his name said he had been the director of Tatab since 2017.

The South West Regional Organised Crime Unit statement said that Bhardwaj had tried to distance himself from Tatab, however, he was found to have been the company’s operations manager who reported to Tripathi.

There were other clues suggesting Bhardwaj was closely involved with Tatab.

The statement said: “Bhardwaj also owned and drove a Range Rover with the personalised registration plate TA07 TAB (TATAB).”

It added that Tatab was one of several companies Tripathi and Bhardwaj had used to try and conceal their activities. 

‘Smoke and mirrors’


“The pair played a game of smoke and mirrors — setting up bogus businesses and using pseudonyms in order to cover their tracks and distance themselves from the illegal imports.”

Richard Partridge of the Crown Prosecution Service said that along with other individuals who were yet to be arrested, Tripathi and Bhardwaj had tried to flood UK streets with massive consignments of illegal drugs.

“This conspiracy was only made possible by Anand Tripathi’s experience in importation and customs clearance, and Varun Bhardwaj’s willingness to assume day-to-day management of their operation,” he said.

“There were clearly others involved in the scheme who haven’t yet been identified but this successful operation and their substantial sentences serves as a warning that authorities in the UK work together to disrupt and prosecute smugglers.”

Tripathi and Bhardwaj were convicted of various crimes, including importing cocaine into the UK, in November last year.

While Tripathi now faces a total of 15 years in jail, Bhardwaj was sentenced to 19 years behind bars because he faced additional charges, including for failing to provide a PIN number for a mobile phone. DM

Read more in Daily Maverick about a recent cocaine bust in Durban:  R151-million cocaine disguised in meat boxes seized in Durban in latest SA-Brazil bust

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