Ringleader jailed over ‘professional and sophisticated’ stolen chicken and goods conspiracy
Greater Manchester Police statement: Members of a gang that handled stolen goods worth more than £500,000 have been jailed for their part in a ‘professional and sophisticated’ fraud operation.
The investigation by our Economic and Cyber Crime Unit started in 2017 when a lorry-load of frozen chicken was delivered to a haulage yard in #Oldham.
The chicken worth 75,000 euros had been fraudulently purchased with credit insurance by unknown individuals using the cloned details of a genuine UK company.
Our investigation uncovered 13 companies around Europe that had been defrauded of goods that included milk powder, olive oil, chicken, turkey, almonds, fruit syrup, electronic items and meat in 2017 and 2018.
The goods were then delivered to locations across the UK having been diverted through local haulage yards, including that owned by Paul Barrett in #Rochdale, and handled at wholesalers Manchester Food Traders – now closed but formerly of Wood Street, #Manchester – where several people were arrested on suspicion of fraud offences.
The total amount of goods that passed through Manchester Food Traders was estimated to be between £509,000 and £526,000.
Devinder Singh, of Bramley Close, Swinton; Zakaria Dean, of Birkenhills Drive, #Bolton; and Mohammad Farid, of Princess Road, #Manchester, were all found guilty of conspiracy to handle stolen goods following a trial from June to August last year.
Ringleader Devinder Singh was jailed for six years and six months and Dean jailed for two years and nine months at Bolton Crown Court today (20/2/26).
Farid was given a two-year suspended sentence and 20 days of rehabilitation
Devinder Singh and Lakhvinder Singh, of Bramley Close, Swinton, had been disqualified from being company directors in 2012 for a period of 13 years and their roles at Manchester Food Traders were in breach of this court order, which they both admitted.
Lakhvinder Singh also admitted two further breaches in relation to two other companies between 2019 and 2020, and was jailed for nine months.
Paul Barrett, of #Norfolk but formerly of #Rossendale, admitted being involved in an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition or retention of criminal property, which in this case was some of the lorry loads of goods, before the trial started and was given a suspended 18-month sentence and 100 hours of unpaid work.
The Singhs and Zakaria Dean worked from Manchester Food Traders and Farid oversaw the transfer of goods from one lorry to another at haulage yards, including in Oldham where he was first arrested in December 2017.
During sentencing, Devinder Singh’s offending was described as ‘professional and sophisticated’.
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