Three members of a gang responsible for what is believed to be the largest drug smuggling operation ever detected in the UK were jailed on Friday.

A judge at Manchester Crown Court in north-west England jailed Sohail Qureshi, 64, for 25 years after he was convicted of plotting to import heroin, cocaine and cannabis.

Khaleed Vazeer, 58, and Ghazanfar Mahmood, 53, received sentences of 20 years and three years and nine months respectively after being convicted of being part of an organised crime gang.

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

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“They don’t care that they fuel horrendous problems such as children being sucked into dealing drugs… or innocent members of the public being hurt or even killed in the crossfire of turf wars,” he added.

The network smuggled several billion dollars worth of heroin, cocaine and cannabis for drug dealers across Britain from 2015 to 2018, according to the NCA. 

The operation was so extensive it required two criminal trials, with one lasting 23 months — a record in England and Wales. The other trial lasted nine months.

Reporting details about the case became possible after a judge at Manchester Crown Court in northern England lifted media restrictions earlier this month following verdicts in the second trial.

It revealed the NCA and Dutch police began working on the case in 2018 after “the vast scale” of the gang’s offending became clear, police said.

The group is believed to have imported more than 50 tonnes of heroin, cocaine and cannabis in various separate smuggling operations.

Jurors heard how the gang concealed drugs in consignments of strong-smelling foodstuffs such as onions, garlic and ginger.

The ringleader, Paul Green, 59, was earlier this year jailed for 32 years.

The gang used encrypted communications, faked documents, changed their names by official means and acquired live and defunct businesses to disguise their drug imports. 

The network smuggled drugs from Belgium and the Netherlands, renting warehouses across northern England to store them.

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