An organised crime gang used legitimate HGV delivery routes and covert warehouse operations to smuggle large quantities of cocaine and heroin into the UK before distributing the drugs across the country, a court has heard.
Five men have now been jailed for a combined total of more than 84 years following a Metropolitan Police investigation into what detectives described as a “gigantic commercial-scale” trafficking network that exploited the haulage and warehousing sector to move Class A drugs from mainland Europe into Britain.
The group used lorries arriving through UK ports to conceal drugs among legitimate cargo before diverting vehicles to so-called “ghost warehouses” in Slough and later Daventry, where narcotics were secretly unloaded and repackaged.
Investigators said the operation highlighted how organised crime groups are increasingly infiltrating legitimate logistics supply chains, using commercial freight routes and warehouse facilities to avoid detection.
Over the course of the investigation, officers seized more than 328kg of cocaine and 62kg of heroin with an estimated wholesale value approaching £8m. Police believe the network may ultimately have been responsible for importing more than a tonne of Class A drugs.
The gang’s activities first came to police attention in July 2024 following surveillance of suspicious box transfers between vehicles linked to the operation in Slough.
A subsequent interception by the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit uncovered 5kg of cocaine and 25kg of heroin, providing investigators with early intelligence about the scale of the network.
Police later identified repeated use of commercial HGV movements to transport drugs into the country. Lorries travelling from continental Europe would temporarily leave their legitimate delivery schedules and stop at covert warehouse facilities before continuing to their official destinations.
On 6 August 2024, Met officers raided a warehouse in Slough after monitoring suspicious activity involving an HGV arriving from Europe.
Officers discovered approximately 103kg of cocaine and 37kg of heroin inside the warehouse, with further drugs recovered from lorries connected to the site.
Investigators said evidence including CCTV footage and phone data suggested the warehouse had been used for at least 10 similar drug importations between May and August 2024.
The operation involved drugs being unloaded from lorries, repackaged and redistributed using coded communications, passwords and pre-arranged collection points.
Men travelled from Poland specifically to assist with unloading operations and onward distribution, often using hire cars to move wholesale quantities to dealers.
Despite the Slough operation being disrupted, detectives said the gang quickly resumed activity by securing another “ghost warehouse” in Daventry.
On 7 April 2025, officers tracked a lorry travelling from the Netherlands which made an unexplained stop at the warehouse instead of completing its scheduled delivery in Birmingham.
Police said driver Dawid Gasiewski unloaded cargo into the warehouse before Jagjit Singh arrived at the site.
Officers moved in shortly afterwards, seizing around 200kg of cocaine from the lorry and a further 100kg stored inside the warehouse.
Jamie Allen of Easterton Croft, Birmingham, was arrested after arriving at the premises, while Andrzej Walas and Robert Francuz were detained the following day.
Detectives later found evidence the pair had attempted to hide their involvement through the use of false identities.
Detective Constable Leon Ure, from the Met’s Specialist Crime South unit, said the investigation had dismantled a criminal network responsible for causing “violence and destruction” through large-scale drug supply operations.
Andrzej Walas, 48, of Hubert Road, Slough, received a 26-year prison sentence, while Robert Francuz, 43, of Heath Park House, Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead was jailed for 21 years.
Jamie Allen, 29, of Easterton Croft, Birmingham, was sentenced to 13 years, Dawid Gasiewski, 32, of no fixed address but from Kingston, was sentenced to 14 years and 4 months, and Jagjit Singh, 30,of Tew Park Road, Birmingham, was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months.
