Dutch drug kingpins jailed after Class A drugs important in chicken through Sandwell connection
The Dutch kingpins of an international drug smuggling gang which incorporated Smethwick and Great Barr have been jailed for more than 29 years.
Huge quantities of cocaine and heroin was smuggled into the UK from the Netherlands in shipments of raw chicken in 2016 and 2017. The National Crime Agency estimates at least £12 million of Class A drugs was imported into the West Midlands on 19 occasions.
Dominique Anthony Ventura Da Costa, 36, and Shahzad Butt, 34, are the last of 13 men to be jailed for their part in flooding the streets with heroin and crack cocaine.
In total the entire gang were handed 129 years in jail.
Sandwell men Nazrat Hussain, 39, and Wasim Hussain, 37, helped set up sophisticated ways of getting drugs into the UK from the continent including bribing customs officials and infiltrating a Birmingham chicken packing company.
They were jailed in 2019 and are currently residing at Her Majesty's pleasure for 29 and 14 years respectively.
Butt was the ringleader at the Dutch end of the operation, providing the means to source the meat and load the drugs for onward transportation to the UK.
Da Costa, who was extradited to the UK on 10 June, 2021, was also part of the Dutch arm of the operation where drugs were placed within consignments for shipment to the UK. He provided a warehouse where the drugs were hidden among loads of chicken.
Butt collected the meat from a wholesaler and then concealed large quantities of class A drugs around the chicken pieces at Da Costa’s warehouse. He then took them to companies which transported the meat to cold storage businesses in the UK.
He was extradited in December 2020 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import drugs at Birmingham Crown Court on April 16. Da Costa also pleaded guilty to this offence at the same court on October 7, 2021. Butt was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months and Da Costa to seven years and four months.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer Gary Winch said: "Justice has finally caught up Da Costa and Butt, who are now serving long jail terms. The NCA will relentlessly pursue criminals who flee oversees, using our international network of officers and law enforcement partnerships to make sure there is no hiding place.
"Thirteen people have now been convicted as part of this investigation, which has prevented dangerous class A drugs ending up on our streets.
"Cocaine and heroin cause significant harm to the public through its links to violence and exploitation of young and vulnerable people. Dismantling the organised crime groups responsible is a priority for the NCA."
