A businessman was among four people recently jailed in the United Kingdom for importing cocaine from Guyana hidden in tins of Chinese cooking sauce.

Police in the English county of Surrey were led to John Beaumont-Griffin’s Winterdown Road home in Esher after investigating the arrival of tins containing £200,000 worth of cocaine into Gatwick Airport in April 2009. The tins were marked ‘Chinese Sauce’ and came from Guyana, local media reported. Beaumont-Griffin was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after he was convicted last Friday following a trial at Kingston Crown Court. His accomplices were given prison sentences of between two and ten years.

The court heard that the gang brought the cocaine from Guyana to Gatwick Airport in West Sussex. Surrey Police said the gang had used courier companies to deliver the drugs to addresses in Surrey and south London. The gang was caught after customs officers intercepted suspect packages on a British Airways flight from Guyana on April, 23 2009. Detectives from Surrey Police found cocaine with a street value of £200,000 hidden in tins of Chinese sauce.

During an undercover operation, a policeman posing as a courier delivered one of the packages to the home of Beaumont-Griffin, 47, in Esher, Surrey.  Beaumont-Griffin was later seen taking the package to the home of Elias Hajichambi, 39, and his wife Sharon Hajichambi, 38, in Morden, south London. A short while later, a fourth man, Ian Stephens, 41, of Battersea Rise, south London, arrived to collect the package.

The trio pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import class A drugs. Beaumont-Griffin pleaded not guilty to the same charge and two additional charges of supplying a class A drug but was convicted on all three counts. The verdict meant the court was able to seize the businessman’s £120,000 Aston Martin DB9.

Ringleader Stephens was jailed for 10 years, Elias Hajichambi given five years and Sharon Hajichambi sentenced to two years. Stephens also had his Jeep Cherokee confiscated.

Local media reported that detectives from the serious crime team were alerted to the conspiracy after customs officers intercepted a package containing food items and destined for Esher, which had arrived on a British Airways flight from Guyana on April 23 last year. Two food tins containing Chinese sauce were X-rayed and drilled into and a white powder was discovered inside. It later turned out to be a kilogram of cocaine with a street value of £100,000.

Two days later a further package from Guyana containing two identical tins and addressed to a flat in Thornton Heath was also intercepted. Inside the tins was another kilo of cocaine. An undercover officer posing as a delivery man for the courier company took the first package to Beaumont-Griffin at his Esher address.

He was later observed taking the item in his Aston Martin to the Hajichambis’ home in Morden before leaving. A short while later Stephens arrived in his Jeep to collect it. Stephens was arrested in his vehicle shortly after leaving the property and the drugs package was recovered. Sharon Hajichambi and Beaumont-Griffin were both detained at their homes.

When officers searched the Hajichambis’ property they discovered a plastic bag containing a Tupperware box with white powder, two sets of electronic scales, spoons and milk tablets. They also found dealer lists, £2,700 in cash in a bedside drawer and a further £360 in Sharon Hajichambi’s handbag.

When officers searched Stephens’ home they found electronic scales, clear bags, dealer lists and a bag containing crack cocaine. In addition they found a stab proof vest and Taser stun gun. Another stun gun and travel documents to Guyana in the name of a convicted drug smuggler were found in his Jeep. Cash invoices showed Stephens had recently had £3,000 worth of upgrades carried out on his vehicle despite the fact he was on state benefits.

A subsequent investigation identified a total of 19 packages coming into the UK from Guyana that were linked to the investigation. Financial records showed that since 2006, Stephens had transferred a total of £148,000 in funds to Guyana.

“Stephens and his group had clearly been using the route from Guyana to Gatwick to bring in significant amounts of cocaine for their own selfish gain”, Detective Inspector Wendy Clay was quoted as saying following the case.

Surrey Police will now seek a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act to seize any available assets members of the group may have, local media reported.