Five face jail over Birmingham heroin haul
Five men face long jail sentences after attempting to smuggle heroin worth £1.5 million into Birmingham International Airport by hiding it in hundreds of plastic straws woven into a consignment of Afghan rugs, a judge said.
The gang admitted their roles in the foiled plot ahead of a four-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court which concluded on Friday.
Three men accused of being co-conspirators were cleared by a jury of attempting to import class A drugs.
Judge Peter Carr said the five men will be sentenced next week at a date yet to be confirmed.
Customs officers at the Birmingham airport discovered almost 37lbs (16.7 kilograms) of high-grade heroin stashed inside packages of hand-made rugs on January 30 last year.
Investigators found plastic straws had been stuffed full of the drug and carefully woven into the three bales of 25 rugs flown in from Afghanistan. They looked on as the rugs were delivered to a business centre on the outskirts of Leicester and then abandoned in a vehicle on a Birmingham street.
Mohammed Faisal Dad, 24, of Leam Crescent, Solihull, admitted his role in the plot. He was accused of overseeing the operation from start to finish.
The smuggler was finally captured several months after the arrest of his conspirators when police discovered him hiding in the false base of a divan bed.
Other gang members were Asif Khan, 23, of Evelyn Road, Sparkhill, Soyab Hansdot, 22, of Quorn Road, Leicester, and Ishmael Makda, 27, of Horston Road, Leicester.
All of the men admitted conspiracy to contravene the Customs and Excise Management Act. A fifth gang member, Mohammed Ibrar, 21, of Fearnley Road, Solihull, admitted money laundering offences.
