Gang members jailed over £2m drug discovery

The group were caught during an operation by Yorkshire and Humberside regional organised crime unit who seized 37kgs of heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine earlier this year.

Leeds Crown Court heard Afzal Akram was the head of the gang and directed other criminals in the distribution of the drugs.

During the operation Mohammed Mahmood was observed carrying a pizza box from his home on Wakefield Road, Dewsbury, and delivering it to two men parked in a BMW nearby.

Armed officers then surrounded the car and arrested the men. The box was found to contain heroin with a street value of £48,750.

Mahmood’s home was then searched and officers found drugs worth over £2m in shopping bags and a holdall hidden in a wheelie bin in the garden.

The total street value of the heroin was £1,995,956. Cocaine worth £79,629 and crack cocaine worth £26,850 were also found.

Mahmood’s and Amjad Hussain’s fingerprints were found on some of the bags.

In an earlier incident officers stopped a member of a gang on the M1 as he drove from Batley to an address in Rotherham. The car was found to contain cocaine worth up to £105,600.

Moshin Patel and Waseem Akram were involved in delivering cash to other gang members.

Afzal Akram, 29, of Old Bank Road, Dewsbury, Amjad Hussain, 23, of Clark Street, Dewsbury, Mohammed Mahmood, 31, of Wakefield Road, Dewsbury, and a 17-year-old male, who cannot be identified, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Judge Neil Clark described Akram as the playing a “principal role” in the operation as he jailed him for 13 years.

He said: “Your role here was to direct others and direct the distribution of the drugs.”

He added: “You were dealing with a huge quantity of drugs.”

Hussain, described as Akram’s “right hand man”, was given a 10-year sentence.

Mahmood was described at the “warehouseman” who was responsible for storing the drugs. He was jailed for six years.

The 17-year-old was detained for three years, nine months.

Moshin Patel, 27, of Trinity Street, Batley, was jailed for ten months after pleading guilty to acquiring criminal property.

Waseem Akram, 23, of Manor Way, Staincliffe, Batley, was jailed for eight months after admitting the same charge.

Two other members of the gang will be sentenced at a later date.