London: Two Birmingham-based Asian brothers who tricked a woman into receiving heroin from Pakistan and concealed within packages of weightlifting belts have been jailed in Britain for over 20 years.
Official sources here said that Mohammed Javaid, 44, and Mohammed Nadeem, 29, were targeted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) after a package containing three kilos of heroin was intercepted at Heathrow Airport in June 2011.
Javaid, who was found guilty of conspiracy to import and supply heroin, has been sentenced to 12 years at the Birmingham Crown Court, and Nadeem, who pleaded guilty to the same offence and an additional one of cannabis cultivation, was jailed for nine years four months.
A SOCA release said the investigation revealed that the two brothers went to considerable lengths to obscure their activity by arranging for the packages to be delivered to the 60-year-old woman at her home in West Bromwich. Javaid, who was the former partner of the woman’s daughter, persuaded her to take delivery of the package intercepted at the airport, plus an additional one a few months earlier which contained a similar amount of heroin.
The brothers, who made arrangements for the packages to be sent from Pakistan to fictitious people in the UK, made all the arrangements using unregistered prepay mobile phones to further distance themselves from the heroin, the release added.
Sarah Goodall, Regional Head of Investigations for SOCA, said: “The behaviour of these two men was despicable. They preyed on a vulnerable woman and duped her into receiving packages of heroin.”
She added: “They probably believed that using unregistered phones would protect them, but they were wrong. Expert analysis of the telephone data enabled us to link the mobiles to the brothers. This, coupled with the bravery of the woman and her family members who gave evidence, ultimately led to their downfall.” (PTI)
