Indian-origin air hostess sentenced to 8-yr jail term

London: An Indian-origin former Air Canada air hostess has been jailed for eight years for trafficking almost USD 400,000 worth of drugs into UK, in what police described as a 'cocaine conspiracy'.
Mandeep Shahi, 27, who teamed up with a former schoolboy to smuggle four kilogrammes worth of cocaine into the country broke down as a Jury at Southwark Crown Court sent her to jail for knowingly being a unwitting drugs mule.
Shahi made the drug run on board and Air Canada flight from Pearson in Canada to Heathrow airport last March.
The report said the 27-year-old Air Hostess took advantage of lax security while working for Air Canada to smuggle four kilos of the drug on board in her luggage on March 26 this year.
Shahi was sentenced for her role in what the police call a 'cocaine conspiracy' to import at least four kilogrammes of cocaine.
The police said Shahi smuggled the cocaine into England in her luggage and then she delivered the drugs to her conspirators in London hotel rooms.
Simon Howard-Harwood, 28, Baljinder Nijjar, 28, and Ghulem Malik, 53, were also convicted of a number of smuggling-related offences.
Shahi is married to Nijjar's cousin, Bhupinder Sanghera. The Daily Mail reported that Shahi wept at the hearing yesterday. Howard-Harwood was jailed for nine years and Nijjar was jailed for 12 years after they both admitted conspiracy to supply prohibited drugs.
Shahi claimed she was an unwitting drug courier, set up by her husband and his cousin.
21/12/10 Express India

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2010