Three arrests in heroin smuggling investigation

Two men and a woman from West Yorkshire have been arrested as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into a criminal network allegedly involved in importation of heroin.

It follows the seizure of almost 15 kilos of heroin, with a likely potential street value of £2 million, at Manchester Airport on April 7 last year.

Border Force officers found packages of the drug concealed in luggage that had come off a flight from Pakistan.

The luggage had been mishandled, but 48-year-old Hafiz Waris Ali of Cardigan Close, Batley, was arrested later the same day when he came to collect it, and released on bail.

Ali was re-arrested when he answered bail at a police station in Greater Manchester.

Rafakat Hussain, 28, of Alverthorpe Road, Wakefield, was later arrested in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

The two men were charged with conspiring to import heroin and are due to appear before Manchester City Magistrates today.

Meanwhile in an operation supported by West Yorkshire Police, NCA investigators executed four warrants at addresses in Batley and Wakefield.

A 60-year-old woman was arrested in Batley. She was later bailed pending further enquiries.