Scots gangster jailed for being 'key link' in gang of UK's 'biggest ever drugs conspiracy'

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A Scottish gangster who was part of an organised crime group that smuggled several billion pounds worth of heroin, cocaine and cannabis into the UK has been jailed.

Sohail Qureshi, originally from Glasgow, was sentenced on Friday, December 13, of plotting to import heroin, cocaine and cannabis. The 64-year-old was given 25 years behind bars at Manchester Crown Court.

Three men were jailed at the court for their roles in an organised crime group (OCG) that smuggled a whopping 50 tonnes of drugs - the same weight as around 30 family sized cars.

Qureshi, who had homes in Glasgow and London, was crucial to the gang due to his role helping them join forces with crooks from the Netherlands to generate new smuggling routes to the UK.

He worked closely with Khaleed Vazeer, 58, of Timperley, and Ghazanfar Mahmood, 53, of Bolton, both Greater Manchester.

Mahmood took his orders from Qureshi and travelled to Spain and the Netherlands to develop the operation, and he became a director of a front company in the Netherlands. He was sentenced to three years and nine months.

Vazeer was convicted of the same charges as Qureshi. He helped set up a front company in the UK and helped Dutch crime boss Barbara Rijnbout, jailed for 18 years earlier this year, open personal and business bank accounts in the UK by using forged documents.

Dutch wiretap evidence showed Vazeer supported and encouraged Rijnbout, 53, of Utrecht, to run the Dutch side of the gang. Vazeer was sentenced to 20 years.

The offences were committed between August 2015 and September 2018 during which the gang smuggled at least 240 consignments of drugs.

The crime gang was led by Paul Green, 59, of Widnes, Cheshire, who was known as ‘the big fella,’ and jailed for 32 years earlier this year following a long-running National Crime Agency investigation.

The group set up front companies and rented warehouses in the Netherlands and UK to move drugs hidden in deliveries of strong-smelling foodstuff such as onions, garlic and ginger.

As well as the warehouses in Sheffield and Preston, the gang also rented premises in Leeds, Warrington, Bolton, Wigan and Ormskirk.

In total, more than 246 years of jail time has been given to 12 members of the OCG. Two men who cannot be named for legal reasons await sentencing for their roles along with Ashley Jones, 34, of St Helens, Merseyside. He admitted conspiring to import Class A drugs and will be sentenced at a date to be confirmed.

Two offenders were given suspended sentences and one died before he could be sentenced.

The gang were convicted over two trials: one lasting 23 months – a record in England and Wales – and the second lasting nine months.

Richard Harrison, regional head of investigations at the National Crime Agency, said: “These criminals supplied unprecedented amounts of drugs right across the UK.

“And along with that, an incalculable amount of damage to society with the violence, addiction, exploitation and misery that are inseparable from supplying drugs. Offenders like these only care about the money to be made.

“They don’t care that they fuel horrendous problems such as children being sucked into dealing drugs through County Lines or innocent members of the public being hurt or even killed in the crossfire of turf wars. I commend my officers for the years of dedicated and tenacious work that went into bringing this OCG to justice.”

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