DRUG DEALERS 'KILLED LONDON FAMILY OF 5'

Freight Firm Sought As A Front, Prosecutors Say

LONDON -- A drug dealer and his accomplices killed five members of a
wealthy family to take over their business, then buried the bodies in a
mass grave, prosecutors alleged Wednesday in a London court.

Kenneth Regan, Peter Rees and William Horncy are standing trial for the
murders of London freight company boss Amarjit Chohan, 46; his 25-year-old
wife, Nancy; their sons, Divider, 19 months, and Ravinder, 4 months; and
Mrs. Chohan's mother, Charanjit Kaur, 51.

All five disappeared in February 2003. The bodies of Amarjit Chohan, his
wife and his mother-in-law were later found floating in the sea off
southern England. The children's bodies have not been recovered.

Prosecutors allege that Regan abducted and drugged Chohan, forced him to
sign papers handing over control of his business, then killed him and his
family so he could use the company as a front for importing drugs. The
defendants deny the charges.

In an opening statement at the Central Criminal Court, prosecutor Richard
Horwell said Regan and his co-defendants buried the bodies in a trench on
his girlfriend Belinda Brewin's farm in southwest England on Feb. 19, 2003.

When Brewin returned unexpectedly to find a trench and a bonfire on her
land, Regan told her he was fixing a drainage problem as a surprise gift.

Prosecutors allege the killers later exhumed the bodies and dumped them in
the sea.

When police excavated the trench months later, Horwell said, they found
fragments of clothing and human hair that DNA tests showed came from
Amarjit Chohan.

The trial continues.