Sacked British-Indian cop says didn't know of husband's drug-dealing
Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Dec, 2022 03:41 PM
An Indian-origin Met police officer, who was sacked from the force last month, claimed that she was unaware that her husband was a drug dealer.
Constable Rasvinder Agalliu, a former model who enjoyed a lavish lifestyle with her drug dealer husband Julian Agalliu, thought the money came from working as a chef to professional footballers, the Evening Standard reported.
The couple lived in a property which cost them 5,000 pounds a month, splashed out on a 70,000-pound Audi, designer clothes, and homes in the upmarket Hadley Wood enclave of Barnet, north London.
During her misconduct hearing, Rasvinder, a constable for 15 years, told the disciplinary tribunal that her husband, who earned between 1,000-4,000 pounds a week, did not pay taxes because he earned in cash.
Unconvinced, the tribunal rejected Rasvinder's claims and said that her "defence lacked credibility".
"Agalliu in our view was not hiding his drug use within the home. There were drugs and the means to supply them clearly evident in her home and we are satisfied she knew they were there," as she was "more likely than not to have had a good idea" about Julian's earnings given the couple's "lavish lifestyle", the tribunal concluded.
Her claims that drugs were planted at her home were also rejected by the tribunal, which concluded she was guilty of gross misconduct.
During raids at the couple's North London home twice in 2020, police found messages referring to 100 kg packages, cocaine parcels, evidence of drug exchanges, and a conversation about a possible gun deal, the Evening Standard reported.
Cops also found drugs in a Louis Vuitton box under the couple's bed, as well as 27,000 pounds in cash at his home, apart from cannabis cultivation at the property.
A mother-of-three, Rasvinder was sacked, but did not face any criminal charges following the raid on her home.
Julian sold drugs packaged with the luxury Hublot brand via EncroChat communication system, according to the paper.
He was convicted at Woolwich crown court last week, and his sentencing will take place on February 9, 2023.
The United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday that the situation was quickly deteriorating after Russia's invasion. It appealed to neighbouring countries to keep their borders open to people seeking a safe haven.
There are an estimated 25,000 Indian students in Ukraine alone who are pursuing medicine, engineering, and science courses. More than 2,500 students from Tamil Nadu are estimated to be studying in Ukraine.
The Foreign Secretary stated that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has spoken to his Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, and Slovakian counterparts for setting up a camp at border areas for evacuation of stranded Indian nationals. He also stated that flight options are available through Dubai and Istanbul and that the Indian Embassy continues to be operational in Ukraine.
The Ministry of External Affairs in touch with all the neighbouring countries surrounding Ukraine to even evacuate Indian citizens. Many citizens who were to fly back to India were left at the airport after closure of Ukrainian airspace following Russia's Vladimir Putin announcement of a military operation in Ukraine.
Amidst the prevailing tension, the Indian students stranded in Ukraine are left with no choice but to queue up outside the Indian Embassy in Kiev seeking the authorities' help as they ran out of food and money. The Russian military actions in Ukraine have triggered panic among all sections, including students from India.
Clashes have also been taking place around the capital Kiev in the north and the Black Sea port cities of Odesa and Mariupol in the south, the report said. Air strikes from Russia have been carried out on Ukrainian military bases and airports, with fierce fighting reported around a key airport near Kiev.
