Drugs gang members led by Blackburn men are jailed

Drugs gang members led by Blackburn men are jailed

12:00pm Saturday 1st June 2013 in News

A MAJOR drugs cartel that peddled more than 1.5m of heroin and cocaine across the UK has been jailed for a total of 167 years.

Blackburn drug barons Suhail Vohra and Babar Qasam led the sophisticated operation, in which 45kgs of cocaine, 200,000 in cash, plus heroin and cannabis were confiscated by Lancashire polices Serious and Organised Crime unit.

As well as 32-year-old Vohra, of Charnwood Close and Qasam, 34, of Chestnut Walk, 34 members of the organised crime gang were also imprisoned as part of the police operation.

They include Arif Akram, 33, of Skelshaw Close, Sajid Akram, 34, of Brunel Walk, Rahim Bukhsh, 29, of Pelham Street, Zubair Patel, 27, of Whalley New Road, Soyab Sidat, 29, of Providence Street, Mohseen Valli, 28, Wellfield Road, all Blackburn.

These eight will serve a combined total of 51 years and six months behind bars after being convicted of a variety of charges including conspiracy to supply class A drugs and money laundering.

Police said the gangs year long activities were focussed on Blackburn and Preston but also strayed as far as Cumbria, Merseyside, Berkshire and West Yorkshire.

Those involved were arrested in a series of early morning raids in August and September 2011 by hundreds of police officers from across the north west.

During covert investigations which followed, drugs and bundles of cash were seized by police who targeted the gang as they travelled along the motorway network.

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Drugs gang members led by Blackburn men are jailed