Indian-origin driver among smuggling gang jailed in UK

Daljeet Singh Juttla from west London had been stopped by Scotland Yard officers with 90,000 pounds of drugs money couriered by one of the other gang members.

On Wednesday, Liverpool Crown Court handed the 42-year-old Juttla a 20-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and 200 hours of unpaid work for the money laundering charge.

"Established trafficking routes like these present a complex and troubling threat to the UK. With well worked-out logistics a criminal group can turn its hand to anything from gun running or drug smuggling, expanding their own operations or hiring out their services to others," said Jane Lloyd, branch commander at the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), which conducted the UK-wide investigation.

"The NCA officers are alert to the tactics criminals use to shift commodities and hide their activity and are equipped with the skills and tools needed to bring them to justice," she said. The officers exposed the gang in an investigation that ran from October 2014 to January 2016. Officers from the Metropolitan, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside police provided support to the operation.