Men in heroin rug plot face jail

Customs officers discovered the heroin at Birmingham Airport

Five men who tried to smuggle heroin worth £1.5m into the UK hidden in rugs face long jail sentences, a judge said.

The men, from the West Midlands and Leicester, had admitted their roles in a foiled plot where heroin was put in hundreds of straws inside Afghan rugs.

Customs officers at Birmingham Airport discovered the heroin in January 2008.

Three other men, who had been accused of being co-conspirators, were cleared of attempting to import Class A drugs by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.

Arshad Khan, 36, of Birmingham, Salim Patel, 22, and Zakiriya Sidik, 44, both of Leicester, were cleared at the court following a four-week trial.

Undercover investigation

The court heard that five other men had admitted roles in the plot before the trial began.

Judge Peter Carr said they would be sentenced next week.

Mohammed Faisal Dad, 24, of Leam Crescent, Solihull, admitted overseeing the operation and conspiracy to contravene the Customs and Excise Management Act.

He was arrested after being discovered hiding in the false base of a divan bed.

His gang members - Asif Khan, 23, of Evelyn Road, Sparkhill, Soyab Hansdot, 22, of Quorn Road, Leicester, and Ishmael Makda, 27, of Horston Road, Leicester, all admitted conspiracy to contravene the Customs and Excise Management Act.

Telephone records

A fifth man, Mohammed Ibrar, 21, of Fearnley Road, Solihull, admitted money laundering offences.

Customs officials at the airport found almost 37lb (16.7kg) of high-grade heroin inside 25 handmade rugs which had been flown in from Afghanistan on 30 January 2008.

The find prompted an undercover operation by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) that led to the five men.

Investigators had watched as the rugs were delivered to a business centre near Leicester, then abandoned in a vehicle on a Birmingham street.

The gang was traced by an examination of telephone records and correspondence about the delivery.