Qaiser Khan (32), an alleged drug smuggler from Aston, Birmingham, has been imprisoned for 7 years for reportedly attempting to smuggle £500,000 worth of heroin into Britain inside rice cookers.
He was due to stand trial at Birmingham Crown Court, however, he pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial.
On 5th June 2015, he was arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers, after two rice cookers were imported into Birmingham Airport from Pakistan.
Border Force staff carried out checks and found around 3kgs of the class A drug hidden in the base of the cookers.
They also searched another property in Sparkhill, and found another rice cooker which had around 1.3kg of heroin hidden inside. Raja Arshad Khan (29), was arrested alongside Qaiser Khan, but he fled and failed to answer bail before he could be charged.
The head of the NCS's Birmingham investigation team, Dawn Cartwright said, “This operation has prevented a substantial quantity of heroin reaching the streets of the West Midlands and fuelling further criminality.”
Regarding Raja Arshad Khan, Cartwright said, “We suspect Raja fled to Pakistan, but I would ask anyone with information about his whereabouts to come forward anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
