Officials seize drugs hidden in boxing gloves at Heathrow and other airports in UK

The officials have arrested three members of the crime group. All three are relatives are originally from Pakistan and living in the United Kingdom.

Britain’s crime officials have unearthed an organised operation that smuggled high-purity heroin in 13 packages of boxing gloves, equine dentistry tools, medical instruments and motorcycle gloves worth £1.2 million from Pakistan into the UK via the post.

Britain’s crime officials uncovered an organised operation that was smuggling heroin in packages of gloves from Pakistan into the United Kingdom via the post. (AFP file photo)

The packages seized at Heathrow and other airports contained 5 kg of heroin. Three members of the crime group, all relatives from Pakistan now living in the UK, and a Briton have been convicted in the Birmingham Crown Court and are due to be sentenced on August 9.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it began investigating Sultan Mahmood Butt, 37; Nibeel Saghir, 34; Rizwan Ahmed, 34, who are all relatives from Pakistan now living in the UK, and Denise Ellis, 46, from Birmingham, after officers at Stansted Airport seized almost three kilos of heroin in June 2015 hidden in Cobb elevators – a piece of surgical equipment for the spine.

NCA officers identified Luton-based Butt as the head of the crime group, responsible for organising the imports from Pakistan. Saghir was the middleman who ensured the onward delivery of the drugs to various addresses in Luton and Birmingham, with assistance from Ahmed and Ellis.

Jonathan Temperley of the NCA said: “Drug trafficking doesn’t always happen in one big shipment. This group attempted to smuggle over £1 million worth of heroin little and often through the post, wrongly thinking they could avoid detection”.

“Drug trafficking is a major source of revenue for crime groups, many of whom are involved in multiple crime types, such as modern slavery and people smuggling; adapting their methods to law enforcement responses,” he added.