Pakistani drug lord’s wife jailed over money-laundering

LONDON: The West Midland police was celebrating on Friday after jailing of a major Pakistani drug trafficker’s wife who was involved with the West-Midlands-based organised crime groups that were attempting to import huge amounts of heroin worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Catherine Farooq, aged 51, from Solihull, was sentenced to nine months at Birmingham Crown Court for money laundering offences. This followed on from the 29-year jail term her husband, Mohammed, aged 47, received in June of this year for conspiracy to import heroin. Her sentencing showed that Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is taking the issue of money laundering seriously and has recently become very active against people believed to be involved in money-laundering.
The complex investigation involved heroin seizures in the UK and Pakistan amounting 1,039 kilos with a wholesale value of approximately £26 million, with the actual street value being around £306 million.
A spokesman of West Midlands Police said that the drug money was used to pay private school tuition fees for their daughter and she also splashed out on a top of the range Mercedes-Benz car. On two occasions officers watched as Mohammed handed over boxes full of cash to couriers in supermarket car parks. The police conducted raids to recover a total of £299,950.
Two of Farooq’s criminal associates from Pakistan Ahmad Shah, aged 40, and Homayon Mehrpoor, aged 58 were also jailed in June to 29 years and 25 years respectively for their roles in organising the shipment of 263 kilos of heroin.
The police said: “This seizure at Southampton in February 2012 was a result of close working with the Border Force. SOCA asked for a specific 40-foot shipping container to be searched and the heroin was concealed within the cardboard packaging of bed linen. Intelligence sharing and the profiling of freight arriving in the UK direct from Pakistan had already resulted in a number of other large seizures at Felixstowe and Tilbury dating back to April 2011.”
SOCA’s Andrew Quinn said: “Collaboration with local, national and international partners has thwarted a number of plots to smuggle huge quantities of heroin into the Midlands. Over a tonne of heroin has beenseized and members of the organised crime groups responsible have been handed long prison sentences.
“SOCA officers transfer into the new National Crime Agency on Monday which will spearhead the crackdown on organised criminals targeting the streets of the country’s major towns and cities. We want to disrupt these people 24 hours a day, seven days a week and make their lives a misery. They will feel more visible to law enforcement and undergo relentless pressure from us.”