London: An Indian-origin man has been found guilty of a 60,000 pounds conspiracy to supply illegal drugs after a trial in the UK this week.
Baljit Gill was convicted of two charges of conspiracy to supply class A drugs, one charge of conspiracy to supply class B drugs and one charge of conspiracy to supply class C drugs at Southwark Crown Court in London on Thursday.
The 38-year-old was convicted alongside Alex Von Nidda aka Alex King, 42, in absentia on the same charges.
"The investigation by officers from the Met's Trident Unit identified that King was involved in a conspiracy to supply significant amounts of drugs with Gill, who was subsequently arrested on August 12, 2016," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
"Gill was linked to the conspiracy by his fingerprints being found on one of the boxes that contained the drugs and he was also linked to the phones used for drug dealing," the statement added.
The force executed a Misuse of Drugs Act warrant in June 2016 and a large quantity of Class A, B and C drugs were recovered including cocaine, MDMA powder, ecstasy pills, crack cocaine, ketamine and diazepam. The street value of the drugs was approximately 60,000 pounds.
Gill and King were subsequently charged and several court dates were set at Southwark Crown Court for trial during 2017/18 which have then been vacated due to medical reasons or changes in legal defence and legal aid by King.
The Met Police said medical information was provided by King to the court to corroborate that he was suffering any medical condition.
Detective Constable Dharmesh Bakrania of the Met's Homicide and Major Crime team said: "After being charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs, King has repeatedly delayed and frustrated attempts to bring him to justice".
"King was caught with a significant quantity of illegal drugs and he is likely to be sentenced to a number of years in jail. I would urge anyone that knows of his whereabouts to contact police immediately".
In late August 2018, King breached his bail, which required him to stay overnight at his home address in London, after he travelled to north Wales and purchased a boat from Holyhead Marina, which he then sailed out to sea.
King returned to London and was subsequently arrested in September 2018 for breaching his bail conditions.
He was remanded to Westminster Magistrates' Court on the same day. King was granted bail but with further conditions of an electronic tag curfew and to sign on daily at a London police station.
A warrant was issued for King's arrest after he failed to appear at court in November last year.
At the start of his trial last week, as King was voluntarily absent and could not be located, the judge determined that King was going to be tried in his absence due to his belief that King had made numerous attempts to frustrate the trial process to avoid trial.
An application was made by Gill's legal team to be tried on his own and the trials were split, with Gill now facing a jail term. King remains absconding and will be sentenced on being apprehended.
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