A Bradford man has been jailed for masterminding a plot to throw drugs hidden in tennis balls into the prison where his brother is serving a 12 year sentence.

Ashfaq Elahi Hussain, 36, yesterday became the tenth man to receive a sentence of imprisonment after a major police drugs investigation in Bradford.

He was jailed for 18 months at Leeds Crown Court by Judge Peter Benson who described the father-of-three as "a guiding light" in the conspiracy.

On Tuesday, Mohammed Ashfaq, 35, of Moor Park Drive, Bradford, was jailed for 11 years by Judge Benson for conspiracy to supply heroin.

He was also caught during Operation Nissan, a West Yorkshire Police Drugs and Organised Crime investigation into a network of people suspected of supplying Class A drugs in Bradford.

All ten men caught during the operation admitted a range of drugs offences including conspiracy to supply heroin, supplying heroin and conspiracy to supply cannabis into prison.

Jail sentences totalling 47 years and four months have been meted out to the defendants over the past few weeks.

The court heard that Hussain, who ran First Stop Car Hire, in Leeds Road, Bradford, was the controlling hand in a plot to smuggle drugs to his brother Asiq Hussain Elahi in Ashwell Prison, Leicestershire.

Elahi, 38, of Branksome Court, Heaton, was jailed for 12 years in November 2001 for conspiring to import heroin and supply Class A drugs.

During a trial in his absence, the court heard Elahi was one of Bradford's biggest drug smugglers. He was described as the top man in a major heroin pipeline from Pakistan to the UK.

Hussain, of Woodlark Close, Queensbury, called his brother "The Big Man", during conversations recorded by the police.

Nicknamed "Landi", Hussain hatched the tennis ball plot with Majid Hussain, 28, of Mond Avenue, Thornbury, and Suhail Akhtar, 28, of Maidstone Street, Bradford Moor.

Majid Hussain was sentenced to a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years at Bradford Crown Court last month. Akhtar was jailed for 16 months for his part in the scheme.

Prosecutor James Bourne-Arton said police had the three under surveillance from the end of 2003 as the plot was hatched.

On January 8 2004, a van pulled up at the prison perimeter fence and officers watched as the balls were thrown over. They landed between two fences and were recovered by police officers and prison staff.

The balls had been cut open, stuffed with skunk cannabis, cannabis resin and steroids and resealed with silver tape.

Hussain's barrister Balbir Singh said the tennis ball plot was three years ago and his client had kept out of trouble since.

But Judge Benson said Hussain was the controlling hand in a "cool and determined plot" to sneak drugs to his brother in jail.

The judge commended officers involved in the operation, including inquiry leaders Detective Inspectors Bryan Dent and Andrew Best.

DI Dent, force drugs co-ordinator, said: "We're committed to tackling drug dealers who ruin the lives of individuals and communities in Bradford and West Yorkshire.

"For every wrap of Class A drug provided, users will undoubtedly have committed crime to obtain the money to purchase it; therefore dealers are affecting the lives of every day people who become the victims of crime."

Others sentenced as part of Operation Nissan are:

  • Mohammed Bilal Ibrahim, 24, of Oldshay Street, Bradford Moor - 18 months' imprisonment suspended for 12 months for supplying heroin
  • Javid Najeeb, 31, of Horton Grange Road, Lidget Green, Bradford - jailed for three years and five months for conspiracy to supply heroin
  • Pavinder Panesar, 47, of Montagu Avenue, Oakwood, Leeds - five years for conspiracy to supply heroin
  • Javeed Akhtar, 52, of Oakwood Lane, Oakwood, Leeds - seven years and five months for conspiracy to supply heroin
  • Mohammed Rehman, 25, of Wren Street, Keighley - five years for conspiracy to supply heroin
  • A 16-year-old Keighley schoolboy - community service for conspiracy to supply heroin.
  • e-mail: jenny.loweth @bradford.newsquest.co.uk