Three Manchester drug rings have been smashed after police found thousands of pounds worth of heroin stashed in packages of children’s jackets, soiled nappies and soap smuggled from Pakistan.
The criminals have been jailed for a total of more than 75 years at Minshull Street Crown Court after police underwent an extensive investigation for more than a year and seized more than 2kg of heroin worth £415,710.
All activity across the gangs was masterminded by Mohammed Imran Khan, 34, of Cotton Mill Crescent, Oldham, who had the contacts in Pakistan to organise the importation of heroin into the UK.
Khan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade a prohibition on the importation of heroin and was jailed for nine years and four months.
Detective Inspector Chris Mossop, from GMP’s Serious Organised Crime Group, said: “Today marks the culmination of more than a year’s work to bring some extremely determined and well-connected drug dealers to justice and I am delighted so many of these criminals are now starting lengthy jail sentences.
“Some of these offenders belonged to multiple criminal networks which show the scale and determination of these criminals to build up their drug empires.
“It is very rare to bring successful prosecutions against every level of an organised crime network, but in the case of Mohammed Imran Khan’s gang, that is exactly what we have done.
“You often find that the masterminds of these OCGs like Khan – the so-called ‘Mr Bigs’ – keep their distance from handling the drugs themselves and let the acolytes who deals on their behalf take the fall.”
Khan’s dealings were uncovered after several investigations one of which police intercepted a Fedex parcel from Pakistan on July 10 2012 at Stanstead Airport which claimed to contain bed sheets. More than 1.5kg of heroin was found inside.
The address was registered to Michelle Simpson, 34, of Emily Street, Burnley, and Deborah Tomlin, 48, of Griffin Close, Burnley, who were recruited by Mohammed Fawad, 29, of Colne Road, Burnley, to receive the packages.
Two days later Simpson and Tomlin were arrested along with Khan, who was arrested at his home in Oldham hiding in a locked bedroom with £9,000 in cash and 12 mobile phones seized.
Police found that the organisation had used ‘dirty phones’ which would be discarded after use. Evidence was also found showing that Khan and Mohammed Shanawaz, 28, of Cornwall Street, Oldham, would use Danny Bradbury, 27, of Summercroft, Chadderton, to organise payments from bank accounts to suppliers in Pakistan for drugs.
Fawad was jailed for six years and eight months with Shanawaz pleading guilty to conspiracy to evade a prohibition on the importation of heroin and further count of conspiracy to supply class a drugs for his involvement in a similar but separate investigation. He was jailed for a total of 11 years.
Simpson and Tomlin were both found guilty of conspiracy to evade a prohibition on the importation of heroin and jailed for three years and five years 219 days respectively. Bradbury was jailed for four years and four months.
A second investigation found that Anthony Hodson, 23, of Tudor Street, Shaw, scouted suitable addresses for people willing to accept the drugs consignments by courier from Pakistan.
He was notorious for his dealings with drugs and knew many addicts who would discretely accept delivery of parcels for payment.
Hodson arranged to use the home of Jamie Whittleworth, 30, of Grains Road, Shaw, for the delivery of drugs from Pakistan in return for wiping out drugs debt owed from his addiction.
On August 7, a package was delivered to Whittleworth’s home and Hodson then picked up the drugs and gave them to Bradbury. Bradbury opened the package and both he and Peter Gordon, 22, of Burnley Lane stashed the drugs in Gordon’s pants.
However police used surveillance to witness these actions and were able to arrest Bradbury and Gordon.
The drugs turned out to be over half a kilo of heroin worth more than £100,000 and Hodson was jailed for four years and four months, Gordon for 18 months and Jamie Whittleworth given a two year suspended sentence.
Following the arrests, other properties were searched with items such as cannabis, scales, unused snap bags, drugs debtors lists and mobile phones being seized. Bradbury’s home had a hollowed out book to conceal the drugs whilst in transit.
The arrests were made after a warrant was executed on Thursday April 26 2012 at a house on Belgrave Road, Oldham.
Shahid Hussain, 41, of Edward Street, Lucie Klimentova, 23, and Adriana Sivkoba, 23, both of Broadway Street, were arrested and a large quantity of heroin was recovered, some of which was in bowls as it was being mixed.
Officers also seized other drugs paraphernalia including a knife, a large set of scales and cut plastic bags with Shanawaz being stopped at Manchester Airport later that evening before he boarded a flight for Pakistan. Hidden in his suitcase was 10 mobile phones, luxury watches and up to £3,000 in cash.
Hussain was jailed for five years and 219 days, Klimentova for two years and Sivakova for 16 months suspended for two years.
Ben Southam, Senior Crown Prosecutor from the CPS North West Complex Casework Unit said: “This was a complex and very successful investigation by Greater Manchester Police which led to the seizure of large quantities of heroin and mixing agents. From the very outset we have worked closely with the police to present a strong and compelling case against these defendants.
“The sentences given to these defendants send out a clear message that the CPS, police and the courts will not tolerate those involved in the supply of drugs, whether that be those who import the drugs or those further down the chain who are involved in mixing and supplying them.”
A further investigation was held on Monday April 30 when the UK Border Agency intercepted a package at Coventry Airport from Bangladesh and addressed to the ‘Abdul Group’.
Even though the label claimed the parcel contained dried food fish, two children’s jackets were found with two bags of heroin.
The delivery address belonged to Alior Rahman, 30, of Heron Street, Oldham, who was then arrested. Cash, mobile phones, laptops and documents relating to the ‘Abdul Group’ were found at his house.
On May 2 2012, a package under surveillance was delivered to a home belonging to Faram Zeb, 25, of Pitsmoor Road, Sheffield, and Christopher Allen, 28, of McKie Close, Oldham, collected it.
When officers raided the home, they found the parcel contained soiled nappies, toiletries and six individual bars of soap which were hollowed out and filled with heroin.
Rahman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to contravene section 170 of the Customs and Exercise Management Act and two counts of fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of goods. He was jailed for 11 years.
Allen was jailed for two years, Zeb was jailed for 18 months and other criminals involved were jailed including Mubasher Iqbal, 26, and, Foysol Ahmed, 35 of Yasmin Gardens, Oldham, for three and a half years.
Arshad Khan, 30 of Eldon Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class a drugs and was jailed for two and a half years.
DI Mossop added: “We have utterly dismantled this network root and branch which is a massive achievement. Effectively, we have permanently removed a major supply chain that shipped millions of pounds worth of heroin from Pakistan to the UK. The knock-on effect will have an impact across the communities of not just Manchester but the North West.
“We have completely smashed at least one criminal network, severely disrupted two more and sent a powerful message to others that if you are a member of an organised crime group, and no matter what role or status you have in bringing drugs into the UK and onto the streets of Manchester, we will be watching you and you will find yourselves staring at the walls of a prison cell.”
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