Drug smugglers jailed for hiding heroin in chickens
PAIR ATTEMPTED TO BRING CLASS A DRUGS THROUGH HEATHROW
TWO drug dealers have been jailed for more than 40 years for smuggling millions of pounds worth of cocaine and heroin into the country through Heathrow Airport – hidden inside chickens.
Nazarat Hussain, 36, and Wasim Hussain, 34, who are not related, were members of a gang who imported more than 300kg of class A drugs into the UK.
The pair set up fake companies in the country and sent deliveries of chickens from the Netherlands with the drugs hidden inside.
In a separate scam, the gang used “corrupt employees” in São Paulo Airport and Heathrow Airport to hide a bag of drugs inside a passenger plane flying to the UK.
Nazarat Hussain, currently of HMP Birmingham, was convicted of three charges of conspiring to import class A drugs, and one count of conspiring to acquire a prohibited weapon, namely a handgun. He was jailed for 29-and-a-half years at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, November 28.
Wasim Hussain, of Handsworth, in Birmingham, was convicted of two charges of conspiring to import class A drugs.
A jury failed to come to a verdict on a third charge of conspiring to import class A drugs.
He was jailed for 14 years and four months.
Judge Roderick Henderson said: “I am sure at least 300kg of class A drugs were imported into this country. I accept there may have been people higher up still in your organisation, but you were high up in the scale.
“The firearm offence is extremely serious. You will each serve up to half your sentence before you are released on licence.
“If you re-offend, you are likely to be recalled to serve the remainder of your sentence.”
Paul Mitchell, prosecuting, said:
“Nazarat and Wasim Hussain were heads of a conspiracy to import class A drugs from the Netherlands and Brazil from the spring of 2016 to the summer of 2017.
“They used two distinct methods. “In the first method, false company identities were established with fake email and actual addresses.
“Cargoes of chicken were purchased in the Netherlands and drugs were inserted, and then sent to companies in the UK. There were three different fake companies. Each time drugs were seized, they opened up a new company identity and restarted the scheme.
“There were a total of 19 importations. Drugs were seized from three of these importations.
“A total of 55kg of cocaine and 3kg of heroin were seized.”
He added an expert witness calculated a total of 350kg of class A drugs may have been imported in total.
“The other method involved a ‘rip on, rip off’ system,” Mr Mitchell said. “A bag of drugs was inserted into the payload of a passenger plane by a corrupt employee in São Paulo, Brazil. It was removed by a corrupt employee at Heathrow Airport.
“A bag containing 3kg of cocaine was imported in this way.
“There was also the supply of a prohibited weapon in Birmingham in December, 2017. The handover was arranged by Nazarat Hussain and [another].
“Three days after, Nazarat Hussain travelled to London and shortly afterwards left the country.
“In the early stages of [going through] Heathrow, there was the seizure of the handgun.”
The court heard Wasim Hussain assumed a greater role in communications after Nazarat left the country.
Stanley Reiz, defending Nazarat, said: “Dummy runs had to take place whether there was contraband or not. There were a number of dummy runs.
“Nazarat played a leading role, but that’s not to say there weren’t other conspirators above him and alongside him who have not been brought to court.
“I accept his culpability was high. “He is a man with two relatively young children, aged nine and 12. He will miss most or the rest of their childhood and will no longer play an important part in their development.
“This is a man who has a family and substantial sentence will take its toll on his family.
“He has a good side to him but regrettably he has made some very serious misjudgements. A sentence of this length will have a devastating effect on him.”
Victoria Meads, defending Wasim, said: “We would ask the court to bear in mind the psychological report, in particular his very low IQ and his suggestibility.
“It puts his role in context and suggests he is easily suggestible and influenced by others.
“He has a number of young children. His father and mother are both aging and unwell.”