Police find £17.2m worth of cocaine hidden in blocks of cheese and bin bags

Police found £17.2 million worth of cocaine hidden inside blocks of cheese and stuffed in bin bags during a raid.

Saleem Chaudhri, 46, owned a unit at the Old Fire Station in Balckburn which was raided by officers on May 3, 2023. Police uncovered 217 kilos of cocaine, of which some were hidden in Gouda cheese while some was hidden in black bin bags.

Chaudhri, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine and money laundering, was jailed at Preston Crown Court for 27 and a half years.

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Moments before his arrest, Chaudhri was seen taking possession of a Toyota Estate from a drugs courier in Walpole Street, Blackburn, which he had driven to the unit. It is believed the black bin bags containing the illicit substance were going to be handed to couriers and then distributed across the country.

While Chaudhri was arrested at the unit, the courier he had met with moments before was arrested elsewhere, according to Lancashire police. An investigation also uncovered Rieddul Mohabath, 28, who was believed to be directing couriers to Blackburn to pick up large amounts of cocaine.

Mohabath was arrested outside his home in Dean Road, South Shields, on July 3. An Audi outside the property contained snap bags of cocaine while another property linked to him in Jarrow, South Shields was also searched.

The search uncovered a basement in which officers discovered a large amount of cash, a cash counting machine, and suspected Class A drugs of different weights.

Chaudhri's own home in Waterside, Blackburn, was found to contain almost £10,000 in cash. Lancashire Police said evidence demonstrated that Chaudhri agreed to sell over 2,000 kilos of