Gainsborough Business Unit Fronted Cocaine Importation, Two Men Jailed for Over 50 Years

Muhammad Hussain, 37, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, and Riaz Wadood, 32, to 23 years, after a Lincoln Crown Court found them guilty of conspiring to import cocaine. The operation involved using a business unit in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, as a front to bring hundreds of kilogrammes of Class A drugs into the UK from South America.

Hussain, identified as the “leader” of the UK operation, established several plastics companies on the Corringham Road industrial estate to disguise the illicit shipments. Wadood was described as his “right-hand man,” exercising “substantial influence on others in the chain” and also leveraging businesses for cover.

The scheme unravelled in November 2024 when Border Force officers intercepted an 80kg cocaine consignment destined for Gainsborough-based Turks Trading. Evidence presented during the trial revealed two similar cocaine shipments had been successfully imported in July and September of the same year, concealed within machinery used in the plastics industry.

Both men, from Bury, were also convicted of failing to comply with mobile phone unlocking requests. Judge Simon Hirst noted Hussain's proximity to the South American supply chain and confirmed there was no evidence of legitimate trading by the plastics companies. Wadood was acknowledged to be a step below Hussain in the organisational hierarchy.