Yorkshire drug smuggler caught with £720,00 Class A drugs in car door panels

Mohammed Hussain, 30, of Uttley Drive, Sheffield, was caught while on a ferry which arrived in Dover.

Hussain, who was driving the car, initially told Border Force officers who had stopped the BMW that he had been to Frankfurt, staying at a Holiday Inn.

However, he could not provide any details.

He then changed his story to say he had been to Amsterdam during the previous four days.

A search uncovered the drugs, which weighed 16 kilos, in taped packages which had been hidden in all four door panels of the car.

National Crime Agency experts estimate the cocaine and heroin would have been worth around £720,000 if cut and sold on the streets of the UK.

Hussain was subsequently charged with attempting to import class A drugs.

He was convicted in June last year, following a four-day trial at Canterbury Crown Court.

A second defendant, Mustafa Yusaf, 28, from Feltham, who was a passenger in the car with Hussain, was cleared of importing drugs following a retrial last month.

Small amounts of cannabis were found in his underpants after the car was stopped, for which he was given a six-month conditional discharge at the time of Hussain’s conviction.

Hussain was sentenced at the same court on Wednesday, August 10.

NCA Branch Commander Mark Howes said: “Hussain’s account of his stay immediately roused suspicion, and his inability to recall where he’d spent the days before his arrest simply wasn’t credible.

“His car was carrying a dangerous cargo of class A drugs, the type county lines gangs and other exploitative criminal networks distribute across the UK.

“Working with our partners like Border Force, we will continue to bring drugs smugglers before the courts and disrupt the organised criminals operating behind them.”