Duo jailed for 22 years after £5m heroin bust

Two men have been jailed for 22 years after taking part in a £5m heroin deal.

Sabri Karatas and Dutch man Daniel Berende were seen exchanging heroin in Heckmondwike last year.

The 35kg of drugs had an estimated street value of £5m.

Karatas, 35, of Harrowgate Road, Hackney, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a controlled Class A drug, possession of a prohibited weapon and two counts of possession of ammunition without a certificate.

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He was jailed for 12 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Wednesday.

Berende, 30, of Roosendal in The Netherlands, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled Class A drug and was handed a 10 year prison sentence.

On November 14 last year Karatas was seen driving around Heckmondwike. He stopped his vehicle in Bradford Road and a Dutch-registered articulated lorry pulled up beside it.

The driver of the lorry, Berende, passed a large yellow package to the driver of Karatas’ vehicle.

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Karatas was arrested a short time later and the yellow package was found. It contained 40 rectangular blocks of heroin, weighing a total of 20kg.

When searching Karatas’ home afterwards, officers also found a converted Baikal firearm, magazine and ammunition.

Then on December 17, Berende was stopped while driving a different Dutch-registered lorry at Harwich International Port.

Officials searched the cab and 45 packages were found underneath a fridge.

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Forty of the packages were rectangular in shape and each weighed 250g. The other five each weighed a kilogram, making a total of 15kgs of heroin.

Speaking after the sentences, Det Con Gary Kinch of the Metropolitan Police Central Task Force said: “This was a sophisticated, well-organised operation, focused on smuggling heroin into the UK.

“The misery that these drugs would have caused cannot be underestimated.

“I am pleased with today’s sentences, they send a clear message that such activities will not be tolerated in our society.”