Let's brie havin' you: Bodycam shows moment police uncover £17m cocaine hidden in wheels of cheese

Bodycam footage from a police raid in Blackburn shows the moment officers discovered millions-of-pounds-worth of cocaine hidden inside wheels of cheese.

Lancashire Constabulary were scrambled to the Old Fire Station in Blackburn on May 3 last year, where they found a £17.2m haul of drugs. It was due to be shipped out to couriers who would flood towns all over the UK.

An investigation following the raid found Saleem Chaudhri agreed to sell over 2,000 kilos of cocaine worth over £70m between September 2022 and May 2023. Minutes before entering his lock-up, they had seen the 46-year-old take possession of a Toyota Estate from a drugs courier in Walpole Street, Blackburn, and drive it to the Old Fire Station.

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On Friday (April 12), he was jailed for 27-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine and money laundering at Preston Crown Court.

When Chaudhri opened the shutter to the unit, officers found 217 kilos of cocaine, some hidden in the gouda cheese and other blocks in black bin bags ready to be handed to couriers. The drugs – imported from Belgium – would then be distributed around the United Kingdom.

On the day he was arrested, Chaudhri was due to hand 67 kilos to one courier and 63 kilos to another.

As the investigation continued, Lancashire Constabulary identified that 28-year-old defendant Rieddul Mohabath was directing couriers to Blackburn to pick up large quantities of cocaine.

Mohabath, 26, was arrested on July 3. Outside his home, on Dean Road, South Shields, officers discovered an Audi containing snap bags of cocaine. In the basement of his home, police found a significant amount of cash, a cash counting machine and suspected Class A drugs of varying weights.

A search of Chaudhri’s home in Waterside, Blackburn, uncovered nearly £10,000 in cash.

Mohabath admitted Conspiring to supply cocaine and was jailed for 16 years today (April 15).

DS Haydn Sibley, of our East Targeted Crime Team, said: “Chaudhri and his associates went to great lengths to hide their product and with the amount of cocaine seized – the biggest haul ever in Lancashire – you can understand why.

“When we arrested Chaudhri you could see by the look on his face that his world had crumbled and that is reflected by the significant sentence he has received today.

“I welcome the sentences that both Chaudhri and Mohabath received and I hope they send out a clear message about what you should expect to happen when we catch you supplying Class A drugs in Lancashire.”