The head of an Organised Crime Group (OCG) responsible for large-scale drug supply has been brough to justice following his extradition from Thailand.
Ritesh Patel, 43, from Cathays, Cardiff, was sentenced to 20-years in prison at Newport Crown Court on March 16, 2026, for his role in an OCG responsible for supplying hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and heroin throughout the United Kingdom.
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The OCG was uncovered as part of Operation Oberon, a proactive investigation led by officers from Tarian, the Regional Organised Crime Unit for southern Wales. Oberon was established in response to EncroChat data provided by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of Operation Venetic.
Tarian officers evidenced that between February 1, 2020, and July 28, 2020, Patel orchestrated the southern Wales element of the OCG from an address in Dubai. He had counterparts in the Northwest of England, and two individuals reporting into him directly.
The OCG utilised a network of criminal couriers to transport vast quantities of illicit drugs and cash around the UK. They were sophisticated in their attempts to avoid detection from law enforcement, utilising taxi cabs and commercial vehicles with seemingly legitimate business purposes throughout the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Patel was instrumental in the creation of a commercial company known as ‘Mr Recovery’, which enabled the OCG to purchase and operate a recovery truck and other liveried vehicles. A minibus with false NHS signage was also used.
A number of safe houses across southern Wales and Liverpool were utilised by the OCG to conceal, count and package large quantities of cash.
14 members of the OCG were sentenced to a combined 140-years and nine-months in prison on October 17, 2022.
Patel was outside UK jurisdiction when his offending took place, but charges were authorised against him on June 2, 2022. Later that month, Patel was arrested in Thailand for possessing a fraudulent passport. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) applied to have him extradited to the UK to face justice.
With the assistance of the NCA and the Thai Ministry of Justice, Patel was extradited to the UK in October 2025. Officers from Tarian ROCU and the Joint Firearms Unit for southern Wales transported Patel by convey from Heathrow to Cardiff Bay Police Station, where he was charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin.
Patel pleaded guilty to all charges, including the movement of 102.5 kilos of Class A drugs, namely cocaine and heroin, with a street value of over £3 million.
Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd Williams, of Tarian ROCU, said: “Operation Oberon has been a complex, protracted investigation into a sophisticated OCG operating on an international scale.
“This sentence is the result of outstanding partnership working between Tarian ROCU, the NCA, the CPS, and the Thai Ministry of Justice. It reflects the seriousness of Patel’s offending. He was responsible for orchestrating the distribution of staggering quantities of Class A drugs across the communities of southern Wales. He thought he could avoid the law by operating from a foreign country, but this sentence shows that Tarian will work with partners to ensure all offenders who cause harm to our region are brought to justice.”
Caroline Hughes, Specialist Prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service’s Serious Economic and Organised and International Directorate, said: “Ritesh Patel is a career criminal who prior to this conviction had served a significant sentence for conspiracy to supply drugs. Having been released from that sentence, it didn’t take long for him to start offending again in exactly the same way.
“He thought that by being based in Dubai, outside of our jurisdiction, his offending would never catch up with him. However, when he travelled from Dubai to Thailand and was arrested for using a fake passport our criminal justice counterparts in Thailand acted swiftly in assisting us with the extradition proceedings which resulted in his return to the UK to face justice.
“The supply of drugs is motivated by greed. It is a lucrative business for those involved. The drugs which are eventually supplied to the people using them have disastrous consequences for themselves and their families and the community; vast amounts of crimes are committed by users of these drugs to obtain money to buy them.”
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