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Indian-origin man jailed in UK over Heroin smuggling plot
A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation had linked him to a shipment worth about $ 5 million that was intercepted at the port of Dover in June 2022.
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Malvika Choudhary - Fri, 28, Nov 2025
- 11:56 EST
- 10
Representative image / File Photo
A 57-year-old Indian-origin man was sentenced on Nov. 27 to 10 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle 40 kilograms of heroin into the United Kingdom.
A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation had linked him to a shipment worth about $5 million that was intercepted at the port of Dover in June 2022.
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Prosecutors said Rajesh Bakshi, from Burnside Avenue in Haddington, East Lothian, admitted to the offense after investigators found his fingerprints on the heroin packaging.
His co-conspirator, Jon-Paul Clark, 44, of Coney Crescent in Crosby, Liverpool, denied involvement but was convicted and sentenced to nine years following a jury trial at Canterbury Crown Court.
Clark claimed he had been framed, arguing that his DNA appeared on the packages only because Bakshi had borrowed his jumper. The jury rejected the explanation after prosecutors presented travel records, forensic evidence, and digital data placing both men together in the days leading up to the smuggling attempt.
According to the NCA, both men’s phones were tracked through the Netherlands and Belgium before the interception. Investigators also recovered a selfie of Bakshi and Clark taken days before the seizure, as well as text messages in which Clark asked Bakshi for cash in the weeks following the failed operation.
Bakshi was also found to have multiple previous convictions related to controlled substances.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer Jules Harriman said, “Both offenders didn’t have the slightest care for the impact Class A drugs have on our communities. The NCA, working with partners at home and abroad, will continue to do everything possible to fight the threat of Class A drugs.”
The heroin shipment had been concealed inside a lorry entering Dover, a route authorities say is frequently used by organized crime groups moving narcotics from mainland Europe into the UK.
Law enforcement officials said the June 2022 interception prevented millions of dollars’ worth of heroin from reaching drug markets across the country.
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