Not Guilty Conspiracy class A Drugs Birmingham Crown Court 2023

Our client was charged with conspiring to import class A drugs Heroin by Fraudulently evading the prohibition on importation contrary section 3(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

The case arose because of Operation Threescore – A National crime agency investigation into a conspiracy to import significant quantities of Heroin into the UK from Pakistan. Our client along with others were alleged to have been involved in this serious organised crime.

Our client was alleged to have conspired together with others to import 220 Kilograms of Class A Drugs.

The investigation commenced in February 2020 following the seizure of 2 consignments consisting of 20 kilograms of Heroin which were alleged to have a wholesale value of £360,000 and a street value of £2 Million which was assessed by an expert instructed by the NCA.

The evidence gathered by the NCA demonstrated that the actual occupants of the address were the intended recipients of the 20 kilograms of Heroin. The evidence also showed that one of the occupants at that address was actively involved in the subsequent supply of drugs and associated criminality.

Following the seizure of the 2 consignments in February 2020 the NCA elected to undertake a controlled delivery of one of the consignments whereby the Heroin was removed and substituted with other items. Covert Audio equipment was installed within the consignment.

The NCA carried out an 18-month investigation into our client and produced thousands of pages of evidence which alleged how our client was connected to this organised crime. Searches were carried out recovering packaging which had allegedly been used for the delivery of those consignments along with other items.

Digital forensic analysis of mobile phones was carried out to show how they were attributed to our client and how it was used during criminal activity.

The NCA made further enquiries to establish the presence of any previous consignments delivered to various other addresses.

The NCA had identified almost 30 previous consignments which they alleged involved the Defendant and other conspirators. It was the assessment of the instructed drugs expert that these past consignments are likely to have involved importations of approximately 220Kg of heroin in total, with a wholesale value running into millions of pounds.

Our client fully denied knowledge of a conspiracy to import class A drugs.

At trial the prosecution alleged that our client always knew and understood the agreement by discussing with another during a controlled delivery by the NCA. The conversation was translated into the Urdu/Mirpuri language. We managed to contest this by instructing our own expert who was able to show that the prosecution expert was not accurate through cross examination.

Although the evidence against our client appeared overwhelming, we contested this in its entirety. After careful, precise, and diligent preparation we managed to illustrate to the jury that our client did not have the requisite intention to be part of the conspiracy.

In total there was 4 defendants on trial and after a 6-week trial at the Birmingham Crown court our client was found not guilty and was acquitted.