WIREDGOV

Three convicted drugs traffickers who recruited a ‘courier’ to pick up a stash of heroin to distance themselves from the deal were caught when he put the wrong address into his sat nav. 

Amjad Hussain, Sajad and Ajmal Aziz employed Ibrar Hussain to collect the Class A drug from a German lorry driver at an address in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Ibrar, however, went to the wrong location in the wrong town, forcing the ringleaders to get their hands dirty.

SOCA’s investigation began in May 2011 when Sajad and Ajmal Aziz and Amjad Hussain, who had only been released from prison two months previously, were arranging to receive a quantity of imported heroin from the Netherlands. The drugs were to be hidden in a lorry carrying pallets of paper driven by German lorry driver, Kurt Nather.

The delivery was scheduled for the 9^th June and the handover was to be in Dunstable where Ibrar Hussain was to act as the middleman to collect the drugs from Nather. On the morning of the deal, Ibrar Hussain set off towards the meeting point. Amjad Hussain, Sajad and Ajmal Aziz were travelling in convoy a few minutes behind. The group were unaware that SOCA officers were watching their every move. 

Nather did not stop at the meeting point but instead drove to a nearby Industrial Estate. Amjad Hussain, Sajad and Ajmal Aziz’s car was parked close by and waited for the handover, but Ibrar Hussain had entered the wrong address into his satnav and was parked in Harlington.

Amjad Hussain, Sajad and Ajmal Aziz were now forced to make the exchange themselves. Nather carried the holdall from his lorry and placed it in their car. As SOCA officers moved in, Amjad Hussain, Sajad and Ajmal Aziz made off in their car ramming their way out of the police road block.  

Nather was arrested at the scene, whilst simultaneously Ibrar Hussain was being arrested in Harlington. 

Amjad Hussain, Sajad and Ajmal Aziz tried to hide the heroin before sending a sixth person, Imran Younis, to look after the drugs until they could retrieve them. All four were subsequently arrested.

Officers seized the heroin, mobile phones and £1600 in cash, while more than 35,000 ecstasy tablets hidden by Nather in the cab of his lorry had also been recovered.

Recently in Leeds Crown Court, HHJ Wolstenholme jailed four members of the organised crime network to a total of almost 32 years, sentencing of the other two is scheduled for next month. The SOCA investigation was assisted by West Yorkshire and Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Police forces. 

SOCA’s Gerry Smyth said: “Criminals like Amjad Hussain, Sajad and Ajmal Aziz thought they were being clever by attempting to distance themselves from the drugs. They were wrong. These men had only been released from prison a few months previously and not only have they lost their freedom again, but now SOCA will go after their drug trafficking profits.”

Two Serious Crime Prevention Orders were granted against Sajad Aziz and Amjad Hussain. The Judge also granted a Forfeiture Order against two high profile cars and the lorry.