LONDON: An Indian citizen residing in the UK received a 34-year prison term for abducting, raping, torturing and assaulting a woman after she declined to transport a suitcase containing unidentified objects from Thailand. Gagandeep Singh, aged 34 and based in Wandsworth, southwest London, was sentenced on Friday at Isleworth Crown Court on charges including two counts of rape, false imprisonment, grievous bodily harm with intent and kidnap. A jury had found him guilty after a trial in February. The 24-year-old victim grew wary when asked to bring the suitcase from Thailand in June 2024. Upon refusing, she was seized at Birmingham Airport, driven to London by masked men and taken to a house in Hanwell, west London. There she endured extended abuse, including two rapes by Singh, along with punches, beatings, stripping, whipping and burning. Released after more than 24 hours, she was warned against reporting the incident but later informed her mother, who alerted police. Forensic analysis of her retained clothing later produced a one-in-a-million DNA match to Singh, who was already held on an unrelated matter. He faces deportation without re-entry rights upon completing his sentence.
