JAIL FOR DRUG RING COG
Smuggler gets six years after opium sting
A SMUGGLER has been jailed for more than six years for his part in a conspiracy that saw 1.6kg of opium hidden in steel cogs land in the UK on Christmas Day.
Saleshi Siavashani was convicted at Newcastle Crown Court of conspiring to import Class A drugs after a suspicious package sent from Iran arrived at Heathrow airport on December 25, 2016.
A court heard UK Border Force officials intercepted the parcel, which contained machinery including two large metal cogs.
They drilled holes into the cogs and found 1.65kg of opium hidden inside – a stash with a potential street value of £16,000.
Prosecutor Andrew Walker said the package was addressed to a property in Roker, Sunderland, so a “controlled delivery of the parcel was made”.
Mr Walker said: “The address was found to be a multi-occupancy property.
“The man who answered the door said the recipient wasn’t at home but that he was a friend of his and would take it for him.
“He signed the delivery note and the parcel was handed over, at which point uniformed officers approached and arrested the man.”
The man who answered the door, Bahman Aghdam, stood trial and was cleared by a jury of any involvement in the conspiracy.
But as police continued investigating, they discovered that a series of “increasingly anxious” calls had been made to DHL about the package’s whereabouts after it landed on UK soil.
Mr Walker said the calls came
from a mobile phone registered to Siavashani and were made by his partner Kimberley Jo Ozbey.
The pair were arrested at their home on South View Terrace in Swalwell, Gateshead, in April 2017.
Police later discovered Siavashani was friends with Mr Aghdam, who had taken the package, and attended the police station with him when he answered his bail.
Officers also traced the name on the parcel to an address in Bir- mingham, but after arresting and interviewing the man, they were “satisfied he had nothing to do with the package”.
The court heard Siavashani arranged for the opium to be delivered to the address in Roker, and to be addressed to a previous resident at that building, “implicating
an innocent man” in the process. Mr Walker said: “He did that to distance himself from the parcel and make things difficult for police and customs should its contents be discovered.”
Ms Ozbey was found not guilty of being involved in the conspiracy, but Siavashani was convicted. Andrew Rutter, defending, said: “The defendant vehemently protests his innocence. That’s a barrier to a certain extent to what I can say.”
He added: “There’s no evidence this defendant was the person who arranged the drugs delivery nor gave DHL the address.”
Recorder Angela Frost jailed Siavashani, 39, for six and a half years. She said: “By the jury’s verdict, you did know what that parcel contained, and the explanation you put forward at trial was rejected.
“I find it likely you provided that address – you knew who lived there and who used to live there.
“When Mr Aghdam was arrested, it was you who accompanied him to the police station – I take the view you did so because of your interest in the parcel.
“I don’t take the view you were the ringleader but you clearly had an important role in providing the address and chasing the whereabouts of the parcel, involving your partner to do so.”
But the judge added: “This was a relatively isolated incident and you are a man who has some prospect of rehabilitation, you are very lightly convicted.”
There is no evidence this defendant was the person who arranged the drugs delivery
Andrew Rutter