Heroin smugglers jailed for £13m baby powder plot

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is examining how 94 parcels were brought into the UK from Pakistan, involving more than £13m worth of the class A drug.

A judge was told the scheme involved packages first being sent to Pakistan from Bradford, West Yorkshire, addressed to the international cricket stadium in Lahore.

These were then intercepted and had the heroin inserted in Johnson’s Baby Powder containers, before they were returned to a range of addresses in Hull.

Hull Crown Court heard how the clever part of the plot was how the packages were returned “undelivered” to the return addresses in Hull, meaning they were not treated as imports and avoided close attention.

Electrician Allan Riley, 53, of Cranswick Grove, Hull, and unemployed Paul Cahalin, 28, of Halliwell Close, Hull were jailed for nine years and 11 years respectively having earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a controlled substance.

The pair looked after the Hull end of the operation, securing delivery addresses and making sure the parcels were transported to the Wibsey area of Bradford for the next stage of the scheme.

Paul Mitchell, prosecuting, told the court the scheme was “simple but ingenious”, but it was spotted after postal workers in Hull became suspicious of the large amount of similar parcels.

The charges admitted by Cahalin and Riley related to 28 parcels smuggled into the UK in February and March this year, containing more than 18kg of pure heroin with a street value of £4.5 million.

Investigators believe they were just part of a bigger operation which saw 94 packets brought in containing more than £13m worth of the drug.

The court heard how the address the initial parcels were sent to in Pakistan – “The International Cricket Ground” – did not exist. This is when the drugs gangs intercepted them and inserted the heroin.

The plot was uncovered after UK Border Agency officers intercepted three parcels that had arrived at Mount Pleasant Postal Depot in London in March this year.

Each was found to contain eight baby powder containers filled with heroin totalling 5.68kg.

Officers later found 11 addresses in Hull had received undeliverable parcels from Pakistan, with occupants often being offered £100 by Cahalin to take delivery of the packages.

A search of Cahalin’s house recovered a list of the addresses, which he had torn up and thrown in the bin.