PIA hostess charged with importing heroin

LONDON: A Pakistan International Airline (PIA) crew member arrested at Manchester Airport on April 12 has been charged with “importing heroin” with intent to supply after the UK Border Agency officials established that the heroin the woman was carrying belonged to her.
The Pakistani woman was carrying half a kilo heroin, Border Force officers at Manchester Airport told The News, adding that the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is also part of the investigating team.
The official said the 59-year-old woman named Toheed Alam was stopped as she came through customs on a flight from Lahore, carrying a laptop and another bag.“She had appeared at Trafford Magistrates Court, charged with importing heroin.
She has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Manchester Crown Court on 3rd May for a preliminary hearing,” said an official.This correspondent has learnt that the border officials investigating the smuggling of heroin by Toheed Alam have investigated five other Pakistanis as well, including the son of the woman who lives in Manchester, but he has not been charged.
Toheed Alam’s son refused to take any responsibility for the bag her mother was carrying, telling the police that it was a lie. No one else has been charged either but the border officials suspect that the woman who has been coming to the UK regularly on flight may have been working as part of a wider drug trafficking network.
PIA officials refused to speak on record about their employee but it can be confirmed that no help was offered to the PIA crew members and a senior PIA official told the border officials to take action against the woman and the PIA will not spend a penny in her defence.
A spokesman at Pakistan High Commission said: “Our consul general in Manchester is in touch with the British authorities to know the exact charges on the said employee. She will be provided consular services as per her requirement.”
According to SOCA, the amount of heroin estimated to be imported annually into the UK is between 18-23 tonnes. The vast majority of this is derived from Afghan opium. Pakistan is a major transit country for Afghan opiates with well established ethnic and familial links to the UK.
“Heroin trafficked via Pakistan to the UK is likely to have either been sent directly by parcel, air courier or maritime container; or been trafficked by sea onto eastern or southern Africa for onward movement,” says SOCA.
The amount of cocaine estimated to be imported annually into the UK is between 25-30 tonnes and most of it comes from Colombia, or from the border areas of Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.