Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport have helped lock up a man who used his own wife as a drugs mule.
Almost half a million pounds of heroin has been stopped from reaching the capital's streets after taxi driver Waseem Anwar Chaudhry of Chichester Court in Slough had sewn heroin packages inside eight dresses and put them in his wife Nazreen Anwar's suitcase, unbeknown to her, ahead of her flight from Islamabad in Pakistan to London in June.
Chaudhry 31, pleaded guilty to being involved in the importation of 3.5 kilos of class A drugs with an estimated street value of £470,000, and was jailed for eight years on Friday November 27 at Isleworth Crown Court.
Siobhan Micklethwaite, from the NCA’s Heathrow border investigation team said: “This was a cynical attempt to import a large amount of class A drugs by a man who seemed quite happy for his wife to take all the risks on his behalf.
“Heroin is a dangerous substance which fuels criminality, from the organised gangs and dealers involved in making and distributing it to the street addicts who turn to crime to pay for their habit."
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Anwar was found not guilty of her involvement in the importation following a trial at the same court.
She was arrested at Heathrow Aiport after she stepped off a flight on June 28, 2015, and told investigators at the National Crime Agency (NCA) her husband had given her the dresses to bring back and she did not know the drugs were inside.
Chaudhry, who had been due to fly back a few days after his wife but did not board his flight, was arrested by the NCA six weeks later attempting to re-enter the country at St Pancras International rail terminal, having travelled from Pakistan via Paris.
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Phil Douglas, Border Force Heathrow Director, said: “Border Force officers are the front line in the fight against smuggling and play a crucial role in protecting the UK from illegal drugs and other contraband.
"This case shows however criminals try to conceal drugs, our officers are experts at finding them.
“Working with our colleagues in the NCA we are determined to do all we can to prevent drug smuggling and put those responsible behind bars.”
