Police had charged them with conspiring to import heroin.
Eight men have received jail sentences after conspiring to smuggle heroin from Pakistan. Altogether they have been jailed for a total of 138.5 years.
They reportedly attempted to smuggle heroin, worth a total of £19 million, from the country, using industrial shipments.
The eight members of the drugs gang received their sentences at Birmingham Crown Court. The trial took place on 14th July 2017.
Police had charged them with conspiring to import heroin. Only one of the men, Zulfgar Munsaf, pleaded guilty before the trial.
Ameran Zeb Khan, Mohammed Ali and Sajid Hussain, who acted as organisers of the plan to smuggle heroin, all received sentences of 22 years each. Mohammed Ashaf Khan received 17.5 years, while Osmar Isa became jailed with 15.5 years.
The judge also gave a sentence of 15.5 years to Rajesh Patel, 14 years to Zulfgar Munsaf and 10 years to Imran Arif
The drugs gang hid heroin in industrial machinery shipped from Lahore. Khan, Ali and Hussian, organised shipments from the city to London Gateway Port. These shipments took place in February and July 2016.
Border Force officers searched the shipment in July and opened it. They found 165kg of powdered heroin. However, they reassembled it back together and sent it on its way to the gang, located in Sandwell, Birmingham.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) conducted an investigation into the gang. They recorded conversations and secretly filmed footage of various gang members.
During the investigation, the NCA seized the heroin and found it to contain a purity of 58%. They estimated that it had a value of up to £5 million uncut.
They also believe that a shipment in February 2016 also contained a similar amount of heroin. This too would also have been worth around £5 million. Overall, the quantity of heroin could have generated 2 million street deals, after cutting down the purity to 25%. This means the gang would have generated £19 million.
A senior officer of Border Force London Gateway, Pete Roffey said:
“As this case demonstrates, drug smugglers will go to great lengths to conceal their criminal cargo in an attempt to evade border controls. The challenge Border Force faces is to stop that happening.”
These sentences now mark the case, as all gang members will face a lengthy time in prison.
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