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| Haul: Heroin with a £37million street value was smuggled into Britain in the bumpers, dashboard and engine of a battered Jaguar X-Type, a court heard. Here is a photograph of the car with the colour-coded bags of heroin |
Heroin with a £37million street value was smuggled into Britain in the bumpers, dashboard and engine of a battered Jaguar X-Type, a court heard today.
The car had no ignition or electrics and did not work, but was ‘rammed’ with 316 drug packets - also found in its wheel arches, centre console, spare wheel compartment and back seats, it was alleged.
Israr Khan, 34, Noman Qureshi, 32, and Mohammed Safder, 43, have gone on trial at Luton Crown Court in Bedfordshire, accused of being involved in the collection of the drugs.
Gordon Aspden, prosecuting, said the car arrived on December 1 last year at Felixstowe Port in Suffolk, in a container ship from Pakistan.
Documents prepared by a man in Karachi, to get it through customs, said it was being imported to be fixed, the court heard. It was allegedly the third time the man had been involved in sending a Jaguar to the UK for repair.
The two other cars had been taken to Bolton, Greater Manchester, and Sheffield, South Yorkshire, in March and August last year, the court heard.
Mr Aspden said, unbeknown to the defendants, they were under surveillance by officers from the National Crime Agency in November and December.
On December 6, Qureshi allegedly drove a Lexus from his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire, to Luton where he met Khan.
Khan then drove both of them in a Vauxhall Zafira to a service road at the Holiday Inn hotel in Ilford, north-east London, where they met Safder, who lives in East Ham, east London, the court heard.
Incoming: The car allegedly arrived at Felixstowe Port (file picture) in Suffolk, in a container ship from Pakistan
Safder was said to have been driving a Volkswagen Golf. The court was told the third Jaguar had been delivered to a repair business in Hayes, Middlesex, but before work was carried out a driver was asked, on the evening of December 6, to take it on a low loader to garage Ley Street in Ilford.
All three defendants waited for the Jaguar to be delivered and were ‘very, very jumpy’, said the prosecutor.
'The Jaguar was rammed with drugs - no doubt from the fields of Afghanistan. This was high level crime'
Gordon Aspden, prosecuting
The low-loader driver was then allegedly contacted and told to take the Jaguar to a different address – in Dagenham, east London - where Safder’s brother had a garage.
All three defendants went to Dagenham, although Safder had to leave because bail conditions imposed by the police - who had arrested him on suspicion of stealing a car - meant he had to be at home by 11pm, the court heard.
The case of car theft was not proceeded with, said the prosecutor. The NCA officers allegedly watched as the car was unloaded at around midnight on the forecourt of the garage.
But Khan and Qureshi were said to have been ‘spooked’ and left the scene - leaving the Jaguar, packed with heroin, on the garage forecourt.
Case continues: Israr Khan, 34, Noman Qureshi, 32, and Mohammed Safder, 43, have gone on trial at Luton Crown Court (file picture) in Bedfordshire, accused of being involved in the collection of the drugs
Khan and Qureshi were seen in the Zafari at 1.30am by Bedfordshire Police who followed them, the court was told. After a pursuit, the car was stopped and the two men were arrested.
Safder was arrested in February. The Jaguar was taken by the police to Harwich, Essex, where it was scanned with X-ray equipment and examined, said Mr Aspden.
'There were 316 packets of drugs weighing a total of 230 kilos. It was heroin. The strength was extraordinarily high at 79 per cent'
Gordon Aspden, prosecuting
He said: ‘There were 316 packets of drugs weighing a total of 230 kilos. It was heroin. The strength was extraordinarily high at 79 per cent. It had a potential street value of over £37million.
‘The Jaguar was rammed with drugs - no doubt from the fields of Afghanistan. This was high level crime. The drugs were packaged in different coloured bags for different customers - yellow, orange, blue, red and green.’
The prosecutor alleged the three defendants would have been trusted to do the job and, if things went wrong, to stay silent.
When interviewed, Khan and Qureshi made no comment. Safdar denied being involved. Khan, of Luton, Qureshi, of Bradford, and Safder, of East Ham, all deny conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
The case continues.
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