Iranian king of crystal meth f lees justice ... by using secret 4th passport
‘Surprisingly granted bail’
AN IRANIAN drugs baron has evaded justice after fleeing Britain on a secret passport midway through his trial, it emerged yesterday.
Businessman Majid Rasoolzadeh, 46, was on bail after surrendering three passports – one British and two Iranian – following his arrest for trafficking millions of pounds worth of crystal meth across the globe.
But unknown to police, the married father-of-two had a fourth passport.
Just three days after giving evidence at his trial, Rasoolzadeh used the document to skip bail and fly from London’s Stansted airport to Turkey.
He later sent his lawyer a text message that read: ‘Thanks for your service but I will no longer be attending.’
Manchester Crown Court heard that shortly before he boarded the flight, Rasoolzadeh dropped his second-incommand Jan Pasulka, 36, off at a ferry terminal in Dover.
Pasulka used a European ID card to flee to his native Slovakia.
In their absence, Rasoolzadeh, who had been living in the UK since 2005, was sentenced to 16 years in prison, while Pasulka was jailed for 12 years after they were convicted of conspiracy to supply drugs between October 2013 and July 2014.
Judge Martin Walsh issued warrants for the arrest of both men, but told the court he was ‘somewhat surprised’ they had been granted bail in the first place.
The trial was told that Rasoolzadeh was the head of a gang which used the UK as a ‘staging post’ to traffic millions of pounds worth of 95 per cent pure crystal meth from Iran to members of Japanese organised crime gangs known as yakuza. Pictures of Rasoolzadeh and Pasulka on sightseeing trips and posing in front of temples in Japan were found by police on a seized mobile phone.
Known as ‘Raz’, Rasoolzadeh appeared to be an ordinary family man, running a Turkish kebab house in Timperley, Greater Manchester, with his wife of 24 years, Mitra, and living in a small rented house in the wealthy village of Alderley Edge, Cheshire.
He recruited Pasulka as his second-in- command and the pair enjoyed champagne- fuelled meetings. Rasoolzadeh also paid for Pasulka to enjoy trysts with escorts, as well as setting up a series of ‘shell’ companies in his name as cover for their trips aboard.
Fellow Slovaks were hired as couriers. made in laboratories The class A by drug Iranian was scientists, before being moved overland to Turkey and flown to the UK hidden in the lining of suitcases.
They were then flown out of Heathrow to Narita airport in Tokyo on BA and Virgin flights and sold to contacts in the criminal underworld for up to £80,000 a kilogram (2.2lbs). But the racket started when Turkey a was to courier unravel stopped flying in at July in Leeds/ from 2014 Bradford He aroused airport. suspicion because his suitcase was practically empty and contained just a few clothes for a much larger man. Border officials found 6lbs of crystal meth, with a street value of £2 million, and incriminating Facebook messages from Pasulka on his mobile phone. An investigation followed and led to the arrest of Pasulka, Rasoolzadeh and three couriers, who were paid £5,000 for each delivery. A log book detailing flight lists and money paid to associates was also uncovered. Sentencing the gang this week, Judge Walsh said: ‘This was a wellorganised conspiracy to export crystal meth from Turkey into Japan. Crystal meth is a highly addictive and destructive drug and the potential profit from this illicit trade to those who organised it was enormous.
‘The UK was not intended to be the ultimate market for the drugs but was a staging post. Rasoolzadeh and Pasulka, having somewhat surprisingly been granted bail after charge, absconded during the course of the trial.’
Couriers Dusan Staruch, 29, of Leeds, and Jan Stinic, 37, of Plymouth, were both convicted of conspiracy and jailed for eight and a half years and ten and a half years, respectively. Pourya Fazlollahi, 27, of West Hampstead, London, was charged with conspiracy but ruled unfit to stand trial.