Who is Chet Sandhu?
CHET SANDHU went from smuggling in drugs to afford a pleasurable lifestyle to turning his life around and leaving the criminal underworld.
Read all about Chet Sandhu, who used to call himself the King of Karachi.
Who is Chet Sandhu?
Gurchettan 'Chet' Sandhu from Newcastle is an author, artist and actor but admits on his Instagram bio to be an ex-gangster and an ex-drug smuggler.
He gave himself the nickname King of Karachi, after the city in Pakistan.
Sandhu moved to the North East as a teenager and went from working in his father's shop in Washington to smuggling in drugs from Pakistan.
He wanted to live a life full of pleasure and so he tried earning a good living from selling steroids and Valium.
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However, it all caught up to him, especially when he joined a notorious gang in Gateshead.
He went to prison twice, one time being in Spain, where he experienced harsh violence.
When retunring to the UK, he aimed at turning his life around but he failed and was charged with more crimes involving prostitution and blackmailing.
After his last time round in prison, Sandhu realised that he needs to get away from the //mcb777.site/topic/crime/criminal underworld.
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That is why he penned down his life story to release his book titled From King of Karachi to Lockdown in the Costa Del Crime: Meet the International Smuggler Who Dominated Europe's Worst Prison.
He said that he would give half of the proceeds made from the book to orphanages in cities that he visited in the far East.
Why did Chet Sandhu go to prison?
By 1999, Sandhu caught Interpol's eyes and so they started to monitor him closely when travelling through Europe.
They caught him smuggling drugs at Alicante airport as he arrived from Karachi.
There he was sentenced to four and a half years in a Spanish prison, which is said to be one of the worst in Europe.
He returned to the UK in 2002 and failed to turn his life around this time.
He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison when he plead guilty to prostitution and blackmail offences.
How long did Chet Sandhu spend in prison?
Sandhu spend three years in a Spanish prison.
When he returned to the UK, he was convicted again and spent six and a half more years in an English jail this time.
What has Chet Sandhu said?
Chet Sandhu spoke to about drug smuggling across the world.
He revealed how he used to smuggle drugs at airports too.
It all started with him being a doorman and working out and taking steroids.
He said: "I was buying them, taking them and the other doormen wanted them as well.
"So, I went 'OK, I'll get you some as well'.
"Originally, I was just going to countries like Turkey, Spain, Greece, just bringing back a few - a few hundred pounds worth, earning, like, four times my money on it."
His cousins then also joined him and they started sourcing places where they can get cheaper products.
He added: "We sourced the place. And the cheapest place to buy steroids is Karachi, Pakistan, because at the time Al-Qaeda were active, the Taliban were f****** kidnapping everybody.
"First time 'round, it went like this.
"Bags on the x-ray, suitcases, open them up, full of steroids, bam, all of it.
"And they said, 'what the f*** is this?' and they're looking and they said, 'no, no you can't take all this through.
"I'm going, 'oh listen, we're trainers, you know, we're bodybuilders, fighters.' And they were going, 'no, no'.
"And then, they noticed a porn mag and one of them picked it up and I went, 'do you want it?'
"He goes, 'yeah'. I went, 'right, yeah, listen - I got two more here.
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"One for each case and we walk. They go, 'right OK'.
"We've walked through airport security by paying up with five porn mags."