‘I had no idea my company was used to make 37 shipments of up to £57m worth of cocaine a time,’ says ex civil servant
A woman accused of exporting huge amounts of cocaine out of the UK has insisted she had no idea her company was being used to ship the drug to Australia.
Former civil servant Arti Dhir, 59, and her 34 year-old husband Kaval Raijada sent vast quantities of the class-A drug to Australia, between 2019 and 2021, it is claimed.
One shipment alone was found to contain over half a tonne of cocaine, with an estimated street value in Australia of £57 million.
Over a two-year period the husband and wife pair are alleged to have used 37 separate commercial flights to transport the drugs in 1kg blocks.
The couple set up companies and faked paperwork to fool British and Australian authorities into believing the cargoes were legitimate, the court has heard.
When the Australian authorities discovered the drugs they alerted the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) who found large amounts of cash gold bullion at couple’s home.
Dhir gave evidence at Southwark Crown Court today (thurs) wearing a grey t-shirt and a golden bracelet.
She told the court that she was born in Nairobi, Kenya and came to the UK with her parents and siblings when she was ten.
She completed her O-Levels at the West London College in Isleworth and later became employed as a civil servant in Shepherd’s bush.
She said that in her 20s she was in an abusive relationship.
‘He was abusive, he was drunk, he beat me up’, she told the court.
She later went into the freight industry.
The company Viefly Freight Services was controlled by Dhir and Raijada.
‘Were you aware that any cocaine was exported to Australia through the company Viefly?’, asked Dhir’s barrister Lefi Siatta.
‘No,’ replied Dhir.
The lawyer asked: ‘Were you knowingly involved in any enterprise of cocaine being transported to Australia.’
‘No, no, no,’ she replied.
Ms Siatta asked: ‘Were you in control of Viefly?’
‘No,’ replied Dhir.
‘Did you give any other party any instructions?’
‘No,’ she answered.
Dhir was then asked about £53,000 that was found in a locker in Southall.
‘That money derived from my and my husband’s savings, and from my husband’s parents as well and some of my late father’s inheritance,’ she said.
‘Did you deposit any money into bank accounts in your name?’ the barrister asked.
‘Yes I did,’ she replied.
Dhir was asked where she got this money.
She said that her mother died in 2011 and her father died in 203 and she inherited it.
‘It derived from the sale of very heavy gold jewellery which I inherited from my late mother and father.’
She was asked how she inherited so much gold.
‘In our culture, Indian women have a lot of gold. It is a passion that Indian women have. In Indian culture women and their husbands tend to buy them a lot of gold, solid gold.’
She explained that the sale of some of this gold helped her and Raijada purchase a property in Ealing called Belgravia House.
Ms Siatta asked: ‘Were any criminal funds used to purchase the property?’
Dhir replied: ‘No, no, not at all.’
She said that she first met Raijada in 2012 when he worked as a carer for her late father.
‘He came through an agency to look after my father to be his carer.
‘I was vulnerable, I was quite low, I was working as well.
‘We became friends. It progressed into a relationship.’
They got married at a registry office in September 2013.
The couple, of Hanwell, west London, both deny 33 charges relating to drug smuggling and transfer of criminal property.
The trial continues.
