"I'd urge them to come forward. I'm also keen to hear from members of the public who might recognise them."
The National Crime Agency (NCA) are on the hunt for three mle heroin smugglers who they believe are from the Birmingham or Sandwell region and involved in a plan to flood the Midlands streets with an estimated £16 million worth of heroin.
The heroin smuggled over to British shores made its way from Pakistan after being stuffed in giant metal lathes.
The lathes were put onto ferries and brought over to London’s Gateway Port from Pakistan on July 1st 2014.
Once the drugs had arrived in London, the lathes were then taken to Oldbury, Birmingham and stored on an industrial estate.
On July 5th, four days after the drugs had been brought over from Pakistan to London, the NCA arrested six men from the West Midlands and one man from Surrey.
The NCA had infiltrated the unit in which the drugs were held in, seized them and arrested three men at the industrial estate, all under the charge of suspicion of conspiracy to import heroin.
The three men were, a 41 year old from Bearwood, a 32 year old from Small Heath and a 33 year old from Castle Bromwich.
There was also another 29 year old male who had been arrested at an undisclosed location in Yardley.
All four men are currently released on bail until January 2015.
Three other men have also been arrested since the seizure on the same charge of suspicion of conspiracy to import heroin.
They include a 34 year old from Oldbury, 34 year old from Quinton and a 50 year old from Stanwell, Surrey.
As with the the other men caught and arrested, these too have been bailed until January 2015.
A whopping 160 kilos of heroin was found at the industrial estate, however the NCA are still on a manhunt to find three more men from the Birmingham and the Black Country area.
The images of the three other men had been released to the public on October 24th 2014, in order to find them as quickly as possible.
The NCA’s Birmingham branch Commander, Paul Risby said: “We believe these men are connected to this large heroin seizure.”
The men being heavily sought after include a young 20 year old white male who has been earlier identified as being clean shaven with short brown hair.
He was spotted with the container earlier on the day of the seize as it was being unloaded and was said to be in a deep conversation with one of the arrested men.
The second is an Asian male, aged approximately between 40-45 with a mustache and short graying black hair. He was seen using a fork lift truck to unload the container on the morning of July 5th.
The third man, also Asian is aged approximately between 30-45 is bald and of medium height.
He was also spotted in a DIY shop in Handsworth on July 5th between the hours of 1pm-2pm and had purchased an angle grinder. Investigators believe the grinder was used to open the metal lathes.
Risby then went on to emphasis the importance of capturing these three men: “They may have key information that will assist us with our investigation.”
He then concluded and issued a plea to the men and the public: “I’d urge them to come forward. I’m also keen to hear from members of the public who might recognise them.”
Anyone who has any information on the three men being look out for or any information which may be important to this case is heavily urged to contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, all calls will be anonymous.
Or contact the National Crime Agency directly on 0370 496 7622.
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