Arslan Shah with Gang jailed over Leicestershire heroin haul

Members of an organised crime group who hid heroin in the Leicestershire countryside have been sentenced to a total of 38 years in prison.

Remote rural locations in the north of the county were used by the gang to stash the drugs that were later transported to safe houses across Leicestershire. They then met to mix the heroin with other substances including caffeine and paracetamol and prepared it for sale.

The conspiracy was initially investigated by Leicestershire Police before being passed to the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU).

Ringleader Joseph Yusuf Niamiah Clarke and a London-based associate Anthony Richards used contacts in Yorkshire to provide the group with the heroin. The group then used other contacts in Leicestershire to supply the drugs as far afield as Oldham, Birmingham and Leeds.

A number of warrants were executed and 11 arrests were made in Leicestershire and Greater Manchester in December 2012. A total of 3.5kg of heroin was recovered by police during the operation, as well as 4.5kg of other substances used to bulk out the heroin, enabling the gang to sell more of the drug and increase their profits.

Quantities of the drug were found buried in fields. Gang members were also found in possession of or concealing large quantities of cash amounting to more than £40,000.

Six men, including 30-year-old Clarke, of Burdock Close, Leicester, pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

He was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison at Leicester Crown Court on Friday (28 February 2014), as was Richards, 35, of Chaffinch Close, Edmonton, London.

Both men had previous convictions for drugs offences.

Nathaniel Benjamin Cheetham, 23, of Cavendish Mews, Leicester, was sentenced to six years in prison, as was Matthew Edwards, 31, of Leire Street, Leicester, who denied the offence but was convicted following a trial in February.

Arslan Hussain Shah, 25, of Greengate Street, Oldham, was sentenced to four years in prison.

Anthony Francis, 54, of Owlett Mead, Wakefield, was sentenced to three years in prison.

Connor Kavanagh, 20, of Sulgrave Road, Leicester, admitted money laundering and was given a two-year conditional discharge.

Syrus Shelton, 22, of Foxglove Road, Hamilton, Leicestershire, who also admitted the conspiracy charge, will be sentenced later this month.

Senior Investigating Officer DCI Mark Brayfield, of EMSOU, said: “The members of this gang went to great lengths to conceal their criminal activity, stashing the drugs in remote rural locations well away from their homes or businesses.

“Officers found the drugs in various locations around the county, including buried in fields. Between them, group members handled significant amounts of the drug, which they would have hoped to sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds in total.

“We also worked with colleagues in forces across the country to execute warrants and make arrests, and then with the Crown Prosecution Service to present the case which has resulted in these prison sentences.

“This underlines the commitment of EMSOU and the East Midlands police forces to disrupt and curtail the activities of those who aim to profit from the trafficking of illegal drugs and the misery that drug addiction bring to our communities.”