WIREDGOV

Six men were sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison today after conspiring to supply close to half-a-tonne of heroin to towns and cities throughout Britain, and launder a minimum of £5m in illicit profits.

A seventh gang member, Akbar Bukhari, will be sentenced next month after masterminding the trafficking of at least 420kg of the drug over a two-year period between January 2007 and May 2009. He had utilised the knowledge acquired during his time as a business student to keep a detailed ledger of his wide-ranging and complex criminal enterprises.

Bukhari's records contained in-depth profit accounting and specified when batches of drugs were 'in stock', as well as the quantities supplied to particular customers at a given time. Sale or return information was also detailed, and the ledger set out a coding system to disguise telephone numbers as they were exchanged among crime group members.

Bukhari was under SOCA surveillance for heroin trafficking when he and a principal accomplice, David Edwards, were arrested following the handover of a holdall in a street in the Small Heath area of Birmingham.

The bag's contents included a firearm and ammunition, as well as weighing scales and a quantity of counterfeit banknotes. It also contained the ledger, which was found to identify the five other crime group members as well as their partner organisation in the Netherlands, which would oversee the 'cutting' of heroin with other substances to increase eventual profits.

The scale of illegal activity set out by Bukhari led to guilty pleas from himself, Edwards, Lee Whelan, Abdul Haque and Kevin Smith in June 2010. Brian Blankson and Steven Dobson were convicted at trial on 16 May 2011.

SOCA's Richard Watson said:

"This is the end of the road for a crime group that did major damage to UK communities. It was led by an individual who chose to apply his business aptitude to drug trafficking, and the sheer scale of his gang's criminal dealings show how important it was that this network was identified and dismantled.

"The lesson for criminal gang members is clearly that no matter how intelligent, educated or professional your associates are, you can never trust them to keep you out of trouble with the law. The members of this network have learnt that the hard way."

The heroin supplied by Bukhari's network had an unusual forensic profile, which had been identified by SOCA Project Endorse* in several seizures throughout the UK. Following the arrests made under this investigation, negligible amounts of this particular mix were seen in drugs recovered through law enforcement activity.

Haque, Dobson, Smith and Edwards were enlisted by Bukhari to divide the drugs into blocks, package them for sale, and store them. They would also transport the drugs and related money throughout England and Scotland. Brian Blankson and Lee Whelan were customers of Bukhari's group who would distribute the drugs to areas of London, Merseyside, the Midlands and Scotland.
Bukhari and Edwards are already serving 6.5 and 6 year sentences respectively for the firearms offence. Haque is also in prison having previously been convicted of supplying heroin.

Assisted by SOCA, the Dutch gang was dismantled by the Netherlands' National Crime Squad, which seized 49kg of cocaine in Rotterdam during the process. The UK investigation was assisted by officers from the Merseyside, Metropolitan, Staffordshire and West Midlands Police forces.


Notes to editors:

*SOCA's Project Endorse is a nationwide forensic initiative to collect and analyse information from UK Class A and amphetamine seizures. More information can be found at http://www.soca.gov.uk/threats/drugs/forensic-intelligence

Sentenced today at Birmingham Crown Court:

Brian Blankson: Born 26/12/1976, of Bloomhall Road, SE London. Arrested after surrendering to custody 18th May 2010 and convicted on 16 May 2011. Sentenced to 15 years for Conspiracy to Supply heroin and six years for money laundering, to run consecutively.

Akbar Bukhari: Born 3/12/1982, of Talfourd Street, Small Heath, Birmingham. Arrested initially 15th May 2009 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and money laundering. Due to be sentenced on 3 August 2011.

Steven Dobson: Born 23/11/1977, of Knowlsley Road, Bootle. Arrested 12 May 2010 and convicted on 16 May 2011. Sentenced to 15 years for Conspiracy to Supply heroin and six years for money laundering, to run consecutively.

David Edwards: Born 11/3/1967, of Gorsey Lane, Liverpool. Arrested initially 15th May 2009 and pleaded guilty. Sentenced to 11.5 years for Conspiracy to Supply heroin and six years for money laundering, to run consecutively.

Abdul Haque: Born 9/4/1982, of Birmingham. Charged 14th May 2010 and pleaded guilty. Sentenced to 9.5 years for Conspiracy to Supply heroin and six years for money laundering, to run consecutively.

Kevin Smith: Born 28/3/1958, of Tipton. Arrested 1st July 2010 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin. Sentenced to five years for money laundering, to run consecutively.

Lee Whelan: Born 29/3/1973, of Haroldene Grove, Prescott, Liverpool. Arrested 12th May 2010 and pleaded guilty. Sentenced to 13.5 years for Conspiracy to Supply heroin and six years for money laundering, to run consecutively.

Extracts from ledger (also available as JPEGs):

To view the images embedded in the word doc version of this release, please follow the link below;

http://nds.coi.gov.uk/Content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=420480&NewsAreaID=2&ClientID=297

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