Multi-Million Pound Drugs Prosecution

Case Details

£10.5 million worth of Class A drugs, weighing over 50kg, were seized by police during a huge operation across Greater Manchester and beyond.

In 2012, five men were charged for their involvement in the multi-million pound drugs conspiracy and were sentenced, at Bradford Crown Court, to a total of more than 50 years’ imprisonment for plotting to supply Class A drugs between February and July 2010.

The prosecuted included Mohammed Shaukat, Abuhassan Rehman, Mohammed Azeem, Shanawaz Nazar, and Anthony Horsfield.

Three of the five pleaded guilty. Shaukat, 37, was already serving an 18-year jail sentence for his part in the conspiracy and was sentenced to an additional 11 years and four months to run concurrently for continuing to trade in drugs. Shaukat’s operations manager, Abuhassan Rehman, 30, already behind bars for ten and a half years, was sentenced to eight years to also run concurrently. Their courier, Mohammed Azeem, 25, was jailed for six years and four months.

The remaining two men denied the conspiracy but were convicted by a jury. Shanawaz Nazar, 29,  was jailed for 11 years, described by the judge as “intelligent but devious” while “naive” Anthony Horsfield, 34, was sentenced to six and a half years.

Prior to the arrests, officers in the West Yorkshire Police Organised Crime Group executed a number of search warrants at addresses across West and South Yorkshire and found £125,000 of drugs-contaminated cash. Surveillance operations connected three defendants to Shaukat and Rehman, who had a history of involvement in similar criminal activities in the Greater Manchester area.

St Pauls Chambers prosecutor, Jonathan Sandiford, said the defendants were part of a large-scale heroin and cocaine trafficking conspiracy that was cracked by a police surveillance operation.