Five men have been jailed for their roles in a conspiracy to bring heroin worth up to £280,000 into Leicester. The men worked together to bring consignments totalling 3.5kg of the class. A drug from Sheffield to the city. However, they were tracked down by detectives from Leicestershire Police and the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (Emsou). All five – four from Leicester and one, Habeeb Yaqoob, from Sheffield – appeared at court at various times last year to plead guilty to drug crimes and other related offences. They were given lengthy prison sentences at Leicester Crown Court on Friday last week.
According to Drugwise, a drugs information organisation, a £10 deal of heroin typically weighs between 0.125g and 0.2g.
That means the potential value of the 3.5kg seizure was somewhere between £175,000 and £280,000.
However, its value could have risen further still once the drug had been mixed with the cutting agents. Leicestershire Police said it and Emsou's investigation began in the summer of 2015, after they identified a man who was bringing high purity heroin into the city and distributing it to lower level dealers.
The force said: "In November 2015, after a five month policing operation, Habeeb Yaqoob was stopped in his car in Asquith Way, Leicester, and officers recovered half a kilo of high purity heroin and a further 350g of specially made cutting agents.
"Officers then raided a 'safe house' in Moorfields, Leicester, in December 2015, and recovered cutting agents, a drugs press and other drug paraphernalia."
The gang members were sentenced including the following:
Usman Patel, (27), of Oak Road, off Humberstone Road, Leicester: seven years for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs, and dangerous driving.
- Habeeb Yaqoob, (21), of Barnsley Road, Sheffield: four years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs
Hamzah Aslam, (22), of Broadway, Leicester: six years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possession of a knife.
- Ehteshan Mahamed, (24), of Dale Street, Spinney Hills, Leicester: five years and four months for possession with intent to supply and supplying cannabis at court and conveying an article into prison.
