LONDON, UK – Three members of an East London organised crime group have been convicted of smuggling drugs from Jamaica in deliveries of sweet potatoes, valued millions of dollars.

Attiq Ur Rehman, 41, of Stafford Road, East Ham; Kashif Mushtaq, 38, of Heaton Close, Romford; and Sarbjit Chumber, 48, of Vicarage Farm Road, Hounslow, were all found guilty of Class A and B drug importation on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court in London.

They are expected to be sentenced on April 11.

A release from the United Kingdom’s (UK) National Crime Agency (NCA), said their investigations began in October 2018, when officers from the Metropolitan Police, who were working with the NCA, seized nearly 35 kilograms of cannabis from a car in Hackney.

The drugs, said the NCA, “were wrapped in sealed packages within cardboard boxes used for transporting sweet potatoes.”

In relation to that haul, Mushtaq was arrested.

“Upon further enquiries and searches of his home and business,” the NCA said Mushtaq was found to have links to Jamaica.

Resulting from that seizure, investigators intercepted a second shipment three months later in January 2019.

The release said on that occasion, 94 packages containing cocaine and cannabis were found in a load of sweet potatoes on a flight that had arrived at Gatwick airport from Kingston, Jamaica.

“The drugs collectively weighed 85.5 kilos and would have been worth more than £3.5 million if sold on the streets of the UK,” the statement said.

NCA teams later tracked a second load of drugs to an industrial estate in Hayes, where the boxes were seen being sorted.

Officers arrested Ur Rehman as he took a handover of the boxes in Kingsbury Road, North London. He attempted to escape on foot, but he was nabbed by officers and detained.

Chumber, “who was suspected of being involved in the exchange and was in phone contact with the men, was arrested minutes later at Spitalfields Market,” the statement indicated.

It added: “Analysis of messages between the men led back to Mushtaq, who following his arrest in 2018, had been released under investigation.”

NCA investigators suspected Mushtaq also “played a leading role in the operation despite being in Pakistan at the time that the drugs were seized.”

He was subsequently arrested after returning to the UK.

In elaborating on Thursday’s conviction of the men, the NCA stated that Mushtaq, Chumber and Ur Rehman were found guilty of drug smuggling offences in relation to the January 2019 shipment.

A fourth man, however, was cleared of the charges.

Additionally, Mushtaq and two other men were found not guilty of involvement in the October 2018 seizure.

In commenting on the convictions, the lead officer from the NCA’s Anti-Corruption Unit, Jon Eatewell said, “This crime group was well organised and established a system that enabled them to smuggle drugs into the UK through legitimate services, where every man had his role in the conspiracy.”

Continuing, he said, “The drugs they trafficked would have been sold across London and could have fuelled further crime and violence.

“Working with partners, we are determined to relentlessly pursue organised crime groups involved in the importation and supply of drugs,” stated Eatewell.