Tom Walkling KC & Matthew Cullen Prosecute in Multi-Handed £14.4m Cocaine Importation Case

Tom Walkling KC and Matthew Cullen successfully prosecuted a family who imported 180kg of cocaine into the UK.

Farzana Kauser, from Bradford, worked with an overseas contact to coordinate the importation of high-purity cocaine from Mexico. The operation involved Kauser’s 5 children, as well as one non-related defendant. The group would fly to Amsterdam or Dublin without luggage and schedule their return flight to coincide with a flight from Cancun, Mexico. Once in arrivals, the defendants collected suitcases filled with cocaine from the Cancun conveyor belt and departed the airport, disguising the luggage as their own. The group were found to have brought drugs into the UK on five separate occasions via Birmingham Airport between August and November 2024.

Sentences totalling over 50 years’ were imposed on Friday 18th July at Birmingham Crown Court.

News coverage:

https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/bradford-mum-was-family-crime-group-boss-who-used-her-children-in-international-cocaine-plots

https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/family-drugs-gang-sentenced-ps5-million-cocaine-smuggling-operation-birmingham-airport

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgmwkpypew4o