Brothers jailed over operation to supply large amounts of drugs

Daniel Shaw, 25, of Albion Road, Idle, Bradford, was imprisoned for ten and a half years after the police seized a 30 kilo stash of heroin worth £1.5 million.

It was stored in laundry bags concealed under a blanket at an address in the city along with almost £100,000 in cash hidden in a padlocked sports bag.

Joseph Shaw, 29, of Green Road, Baildon, was jailed for six and a half years after he transported two kilos of heroin from London to Bradford.

Daniel Shaw pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine and cannabis.

Joseph Shaw admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.

Prosecutor Alasdair Campbell told Bradford Crown Court today that the police found the 30 kilos of heroin and £99,935 in cash at a third man’s home on August 22, 2021. He was storing them to help pay off a drugs debt.

Cash and heroin seized in the operation (Image: Police)

He went to the police to tell them about the hoard of drugs and cash maybe to end his involvement in the enterprise because he was being exploited by those higher up the chain, Mr Campbell said. Three days later, Daniel Shaw was arrested after a phone he was using was traced ‘by good old-fashioned policing’ and found hidden under the sofa at his home.

The police seized £2,000 in cash from his address, the court was told.

Mr Campbell said that on one occasion when drugs were suspected of being moved around, a taxi driver in Bradford remarked on the weight of the bags being put into his boot, saying they had affected the vehicle’s suspension.

Joseph Shaw was arrested on November 2, 2021, after the police became suspicious that he too was involved. Incriminating messages between the brothers showed they had been plotting to become involved in the drugs business between March and August, 2021.

No cocaine had ever been found but the messages showed the idea of purchasing ‘decent stuff’ and that cannabis was being grown at Joseph Shaw’s address.

Mr Campbell said Joseph Shaw had spoken of ‘wanting that Ricky lifestyle’ referring to a glamorous and lavish lifestyle lived by a man in Spain.

Neither defendant had any previous convictions, the court was told.

Mohammed Rafiq said in mitigation for Daniel Shaw that he was 23 when he got involved in the drugs enterprise out of greed and stupidity. He had left home at 21 and began associating with undesirable people.

“It was for him a way of making some quick money perhaps,” Mr Rafiq said.

He had fallen into temptation and greed and had already begun to rehabilitate himself.

Family members were in court to support him and references and testimonials spoke highly of him.

He was making good progress in prison on remand, taking courses and earning a trusted status in the jail.

Speaking of the fact that both men would be jailed, Mr Rafiq stated: “For a family to lose two sons is an unmitigated disaster.’ Daniel Shaw was ‘in a very dark place’ and he asked the court to give him some light at the end of the tunnel.

He had shown contrition and remorse and he was now ‘going in the right direction.’ For Joseph Shaw, Saul Brody stated that he was a courier on two occasions, bringing a kilo of heroin both times from London to Bradford.

He had little awareness or understanding of the scale of the operation. There was no evidence of multi-kilo transporting on his part.

Mr Brody said Joseph Shaw was held in high regard by many people. He had spent a long time in custody and was assessed by the probation service as being at a very low risk of reoffending.

Mr Brody also pointed to the fact that no actual cocaine was ever purchased or sold.

Judge Ahmed Nadim said the men came from a hardworking law-abiding family and had never been in trouble before. But ‘drugs blight communities and ruin lives.’ The brothers had been in pursuit of a lifestyle out of their reach and didn’t care about the damage they were inflicting on communities.

Judge Nadim set a Proceeds of Crime Act Timetable to calculate and seize the money and assets made from the drugs enterprise.

He commended the police team involved in the investigation.