The $8 million ghost warehouse operation: a 5-year, cross-border conspiracy

A sophisticated operation to smuggle large quantities of cocaine and heroin into Britain has been dismantled after police uncovered a supply network capable of flooding UK streets with Class A drugs.

Five gang members have now been jailed for a combined 84 years for their roles in a major organised crime group that imported and supplied Class A drugs worth millions of pounds into London.

Uncovering the 'ghost warehouse' network

Investigations revealed that the gang exploited ordinary HGV deliveries entering the UK from Europe, using coverrt 'ghost warehouses' hidden in industrial estates in Slough and later in Daventry.

Inside these warehouses, massive quantities of drugs were secretly unloaded before the trucks continued on their joureys, leaving almost no outward sign that criminal cargo had ever been removed.

Seizing over 300 kilograms of cocaine and heroin

Over the course of the investigation,officers seized more than 300 kilograms of cocaine and more than 60 kilograms of heroin, with an estimated wholesale value of almost £8 million pounds in total.

The investigation began in July 2024 with what initially looked like a routine surveillance operation in Slough, where officers watched suspicious boxes being transferred between vehicles linked to the network.

Who is behind the 'ghost warehouse' operation?

Andrzej Walas was sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment, Robert Francuz to 21 years, Jamie Allen to 13 years, Dawid Gasiewski to 14 years and four months, and Jagjit Singh to 10 years and six months.

Detectives say the ringleaders, Andrzej Walas and Robert Francuz, exploited ordinary HGV deliveries entering the UK from Europe, using covert 'ghost warehouses' hidden in industrial esttes in Slough and later in Daventry.

Months of surveillance and cross-border intelligence work

What followed was months of surveillance, phone analysis and cross-border intelligence work, before detectives struck, raiding a warehouse in Slough after monitoring the arrival of an HGV from continental Europe.

Officers found 103kg of cocaine and 37kg of heroin hidden inside, with evidence later suggesting the warehouse had already been used repeatedly as CCTV footage and mobile phone data pointed to at least ten separate importations in just three months, each involving huge quantities of drugs.

Regrouping and restarting the pipeline

Even after suffering heavy losses , the gang regrouped as detectives say ringleaders Andrzej Walas and Robert Francuz simply established a second 'ghost warehouse', shifting operations to Daventry and attempting to restart the pipeline.

On April 7,officers watched a lorry arriving from the Netherlands unexpectedly divert from its supposed destination in Birmingham and pull into the warehouse,where they discovered another staggering haul of around 300 kilograms of cocaine.