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THEIR unassuming suburban life revealed nothing of their secret identities.
Neighbours of Arti Dhir and her husband Kaval Raijada might have raised an eyebrow at the 15-year age difference between the pair; she a stern-looking matronly type, while he was a dapper dresser in sharp suits.
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But they had no idea that the low-profile couple, who kept a grubby housing association flat in West London, had not only escaped extradition over the murder of an 11-year-old boy in India but were two of Britain’s biggest drug barons.
Dhir, 59, and Raijada, 35, – the Escobars of Ealing – were this week each jailed for 33 years for smuggling £700m of cocaine to Australia between 2019 and 2021.
They set up a Breaking Bad-style car wash to launder their ill-gotten gains, moved £3million in boxes and suitcases around various storage lock-ups in London and hid seven gold-plated bullion bars in a punchbag at their flat.
National Crime Agency cops told The Sun how the couple spent at least four years planning their criminal enterprise – even getting jobs with a freight company to learn how to move goods through customs.
They were so brazen that they carried on making plans to smuggle drugs as they fought extradition from the UK to India, where they were accused of plotting the murder of an adopted son to grab a £150,000 insurance payout.
NCA senior investigating officer Piers Phillips said: “We believe they were planning this operation for a long time, potentially as far back as 2015.
“During that period they were subject to extradition proceedings that may have delayed their drug trafficking enterprise, but certainly didn’t stop it.”
Neighbours in the upmarket Ealing town of Hanwell, known for its zoo and pretty towpath walks next to the Grand Union Canal, said they had no idea the “odd couple” were criminal masterminds.
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Cleaner Rose O’Sullivan remembers making small talk with her seemingly friendly neighbour Arti Dhir two years ago.
Rose, 52, said: “I was doing the gardening when she leaned out of her window at the back to say hello. She seemed like a nice and normal person.
“I remember asking how she was and she said she was good. We talked about how nice the weather was and simple things like.
“The only other time I saw her was when she was taking her bins out. She was wearing a traditional Indian dress and she said hello.
“I never saw her husband but they did have a beautiful car that was always parked outside their flat.
It was a very modest flat without much furniture. There was nothing nice about the property whatsoever
NCA case officer Leigh Facey
“I was absolutely shocked when I read about the crimes they committed. I had no idea she was a bad lady. If I had known what she was like I would have stayed away from her.”
Another woman, who lived on the same tree-lined road in Hanwell and asked not to be named, said: “They seemed like a weird couple to me.
“ I only saw them a few times but it was obvious they were together and he was so much younger than her, the age difference made them stand out.
“ Everyone here is shocked because this is a nice quiet area and we don’t expect to be sharing our road with drug dealers.”
Learned tricks of trade at Heathrow
Dhir and Raijada might never have met had she not needed help with her dying father.
British citizen Dhir arrived in the UK as a child in the 60s when many Asians left their lives in African countries because of persecution.
She met Raijada around 2010 when he travelled from India to Britain to study, but ended up taking a job with Dhir’s family caring for her elderly father.
The couple wed in 2013 and soon hatched plans to get rich quick.
By the time they married, Dhir had already spent 10 years working with a flight services company at Heathrow airport, dealing with paperwork and documentation for goods.
Raijada joined her at the firm in March 2014 before they both left within months of each other in late 2016.
Police believe the pair used the skills they learned to set up their own air cargo shipping company called Vielfy Freight Services – used as a cover to export £700million worth of coke to Australia.
They seemed like a weird couple to me. I only saw them a few times but it was obvious they were together and he was so much younger than her, the age difference made them stand out
Neighbour
Yet the shameless couple had already made headlines for allegedly plotting the murder of their adopted son in India.
The pair, who have no children of their own, were accused of arranging a hit on tragic orphan Gopal Sejani in 2017 after taking out life insurance on him.
Indian authorities say they arranged to take him from a farm where he lived a poverty-stricken life with his older sister, promising a life of comfort in London.
Cops say Dhir took out a £150,000 insurance policy on Gopal that would pay out after 10 years – or in event of death.
When Gopal was abducted by two men on motorbikes, stabbed and left at the side of a road, suspicion perhaps naturally fell on Dhir and Raijada.
Timeline of crime operation
2013 – Arti Dhir and Kaval Raijada marry. He was working as a carer looking after her dad.
2014 – Raijada joins his wife working at an air freight firm in Heathrow.
2016 – The pair leave the firm and set up their own freight company.
February 2017 – Orphan 11-year-old Gopal Sejani is abducted and attacked in India.
July 2019 – The couple fight extradition to India over the death of Gopal – and win.
2019 – The pair start moving money around – depositing £740,000 into 22 different bank accounts over two years.
June 2021 – Dhir and Raijada are arrested at their home in Hanwell, west London. Cops find £5,000 worth of bullion in a punchbag, £60,000 in a safety deposit box and £13,000 lying around the property.
February 2023 – The couple are arrested a second time after NCA officers found almost £3million in cash hidden in boxes and suitcases at a storage unit in Hanwell.
Gopal’s brother-in-law Harsukh Kardani was also attacked as he tried to defend the boy and both died from wounds later in hospital.
Britain’s chief magistrate ruled there was strong evidence to convict the couple thanks to a confession from one of the hitmen and payments made to him.
Yet the British courts rejected requests to extradite the couple to face trial in India because a conviction would see them sentenced without chance of parole – breaching their human rights.
They were left free to walk the streets before bringing cocaine into the UK to transport to Australia, where it fetches three to four times the amount on the streets.
Secrets of shabby flat
Cops say the pair weren’t even suspects for drug running when the Australian Border Force found six metal tool boxes full of 514kgs of cocaine on a commercial flight from the UK in May 2021.
The National Crime Agency traced paperwork for the shipment back to Dhir and Raijada’s Viefly freight firm. Cops raided their house in Hanwell in June 2021.
NCA case officer Leigh Facey said there was nothing extraordinary or flash about the way the couple were living.
She said: “It was a very modest flat without much furniture.
“There was nothing nice about the property whatsoever. When we carried out a search and found £13,000 in random places, in drawers and desks and £60,000 in a safety deposit box.
“Then we found what were believed to be gold bars inside a punch bag. They subsequently turned out to be gold-plated silver bars.
“We have information that shows one of the bars were sold with Dhir believing they were gold so it’s possible that she was potentially ripped off.”
Europe’s cocaine capital
BRITS are the biggest cocaine users in Europe, according to a report.
Figures for England and Wales suggest 2.7 per cent of 15 to 64-year-olds use the drug each year.
It is equal to around 1.02million of us, or one in every 37 people.
Use is twice as high among men as women, with one in 26 blokes admitting to it compared to one in 63 women.
The statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development rank us highest in Europe and second out of 41 countries in the developed world, lower only than Australia on 4.2 per cent.
Brits even appeared to use the drug more than people in Mexico (0.8 per cent) and Colombia (0.62 per cent).
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed 872 people died of cocaine poisoning in England and Wales in 2021 – more than double the 369 in 2015.
Deaths from all drugs are at a record high with 4,907 in 2022.
As NCA officers carried on investigating the pair, they desperately started trying to launder their ill-gotten cash.
They bought an £800,000 one-bed flat in Ealing, a £62,000 Land Rover and bought a franchise for a car wash in Harrow. The couple claimed £200,000 went through the books at the business in just 11 months.
Cops then discovered details on Raijada’s phone which showed he was paying for a storage unit in West London. When cops raided it they found £3million in cash in cardboard boxes and cases.
They also held £740,000 of cash in 22 different bank accounts.
Despite being caught almost red-handed the pair tried to distance themselves from the drugs plot.
They claimed they got their cash from wealthy family members but a jury refused to believe them and they were convicted of 12 counts of exporting drugs and 18 counts of money laundering.
Case officer Leigh Facey described Dhir as “sarcastic” in court while Raijada “thought he was the smartest person in the room”.
Their love gap relationship came under focus in court where the couple insisted their union was genuin,e with Raijada saying neither had many friends – and no family attended the case.
Senior investigating officer Phillips said the scale of the smuggling into Australia by the duo was “almost unprecedented”.
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