Taxi driver never noticed he brought kilos of cannabis to PlymouthLondoner Sunder Ahuja, aged 47, was paid £400 by a Vietnamese man to make round-trips to a garage in the city
A taxi driver who made 48 journeys bringing cannabis to Plymouth has told a jury he never knew he was carrying drugs.
Londoner Sunder Ahuja, aged 47, was paid £400 by a Vietnamese man to make round-trips to a garage in the city – staying a matter of minutes each time.
Singh told a court that he thought Tam Tran was a businessman and never suspected he was carrying large bags of cannabis over 18 months.
Officers tracking the gang watched as men drove kilograms of cannabis from the South East to Plymouth in exchange for thousands of pounds.
Police who had the gang under surveillance for weeks swooped on two cars in Efford in June, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
Officer seized more than £50,000 in cash and 17 kilograms of cannabis in the vehicles and at premises around the city.
That was after Ahuja had stopped taking Tran to Plymouth in his taxi – to be replaced by his fellow cabbies Amrik Lamba and Abdul Shirzad, the jury was told.
Abdul Shirzad leaving Plymouth Crown Court where he is on trial over a drugs plot
Plymouth gang leader Nicholas Doyle, Lamba, Peter Stewart, Tran and Paul Marr have already pleaded guilty to being part of the drugs plot.
Ahuja and 48-year-old Shirzad are in the dock after denying knowingly acting as couriers bringing cannabis to Plymouth.
Ahuja, of Southall in Middlesex, and Shirzad, of Hounslow in London, have both denied conspiracy to supply a Class B drug between October 31, 2015 and June 22 this year.
Ahuja, giving evidence through an interpreter, said he grew up as a Sikh in Muslim Afghanistan.
He added that he was kidnapped by Muslims in his 20s and his father was forced to pay a ransom for his release
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Ahuja, a married father-of-three, left the country and sought political asylum on his own in Britain in 1995. He was joined three years later by his wife and children.
These huge bags of cannabis were found in the back of a car driven by co-defendant Peter Stewart after a drugs deal in Efford in June (Image: Devon and Cornwall Police)
The court heard he had never been in trouble with the police, though he had been convicted of selling DVDs with a false trademark after an investigation by trading standards officers.
Ahuja said he worked for a minicab company called Air Call with his friend Lamba, another Sikh from Afghanistan, in West London. He added he did not know Shirzad.
Ahuja said he first met Tran as an Air Call passenger who asked for his private phone number so he could call him about a “big job”.
Tran than called him directly to arrange his first trip to Plymouth in October 2015, the court heard.
Ahuja said that if he arranged the job privately, he would not need to give the usual 20 per cent of the fare to Air Call.
The defendant said he picked Tran from an address in Hayes about a week later and took him to a nearby property, where he picked up a bag.
Sunder Ahuja (left) and Abdul Shirzad are on trial as part of an alleged drugs plot
Ahuja said he then drove Tran to Plymouth – the first of what he admitted was 48 near-identical trips involving one or two black holdalls.
He added that he never discussed what he was doing with his friend Lamba, who was making similar journeys and was eventually arrested with Tran.
Ahuja said Tran spoke very little English and they never spoke during the long trip.
The defendant said he was directed in his Ford Galaxy to an address in Plymouth that first journey.
He added: “It was a garage. He made me reverse my car. His friend came, he opened the boot, he took the bag out, closed the boot and then we came back.”
Andrew Lloyd-Eley, QC, for Tran, asked him: “Did you ever think there was anything wrong or suspicious in what you did?”
source:
http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/pl ... ght-754318
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