Father and son sentenced after £20m heroin haul in Birmingham

Local TV

Heroin worth more than twenty million pounds was hidden in pomegranate juice shipments and traced to a warehouse in Birmingham. A Bordesley Green father and son have received suspended sentences, while two men linked to the same investigation are still wanted by the National Crime Agency.

Transcript

00:00Heroin at this scale moves through ports, paperwork and warehouses that look like any

00:05other unit in Birmingham. The National Crime Agency tracked a container of pomegranate

00:11juice from Afghanistan, tested at Southampton, then followed as it was brought into the city

00:17and unloaded. Hidden in that shipment investigators say were more than 400 kilos of heroin dissolved

00:25into the liquid and mixed with bottles of juice with a street value above £20 million.

00:32The unloading was handled by Colin and Lee Bartlett, a father and son from Bordesley Green.

00:37They were found guilty of taking part in the activities of an organised crime group but

00:42cleared of the more serious importation charge. Despite the amount of heroin involved both have

00:49been given suspended prison sentences avoiding immediate custody if they stay within the terms

00:56set by the court. The NCA says the wider operation is not closed. Two men Shamut Khan and Matula Zamankel

01:04are still wanted after failing to answer bail in connection with the same consignment.

01:09Heroin imports on this level feed a market that drives addiction and acquisitive crimes in cities

01:14like Birmingham. Government figures suggest hundreds of thousands of people in England are dependent on

01:20heroin or crack and linked to a large share of burglaries and robberies. Stopping one shipment removes

01:27a substantial amount of the drug from the chain but the fact that it could be hidden in a load of juice

01:33shows how much relies on intelligence and timing. Industrial estates seen as hubs for legitimate work

01:40can just as easily become quiet gateways for the heroin economy.

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