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A Bradford crime boss has been jailed for life after kidnapping, torturing and murdering his uncle and peddling tonnes of Class A drugs.

Investigations by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and West Yorkshire Police led to Tahir Syed, 42, being found guilty on all counts following a five-week trial. 

And on 13 June a judge at Leeds Crown Court sentenced him to serve a minimum of 34 years behind bars.

Presenting at the sentencing hearing, the Crown stated it estimates Syed and his co-conspirators imported five tonnes of cocaine and heroin, with a wholesale value of £125 million.

Much of the damming evidence heard at trial was obtained through Operation Venetic – the NCA-led UK response to the takedown of the encrypted communications platform EncroChat.

It revealed Syed’s organised crime group imported tonnes of cocaine and heroin to the UK in more than 30 shipments from 2016 to 2021.

Consignments of up to 200 kilos were smuggled in on each occasion hidden among frozen chicken inside lorries.

Each time the drugs would be delivered from the Netherlands to a store in Bradford rented by Syed.

The chicken was used for the sole purpose of covering the drug imports. It would be disposed of and, on one occasion, abandoned entirely in a store used by the organised crime group.

By the summer of 2019, Syed’s criminal underlings were under NCA surveillance.

On 17 September 2019 his right-hand man Yusuf Kara, 36, was observed moving heavy bags between vehicles alongside Imran Khan Ashraf, also 36, in Bradford.

Ashraf was stopped and arrested in Bolton, and a vacuum-packed bag containing just shy of £130,000 was found hidden inside his vehicle. The cash was seized along with four mobile phones.

Kara was arrested later the same afternoon in Bradford by West Yorkshire Police officers, who seized two mobile phones from him.

Meanwhile, NCA officers searched his home address and discovered 51 kilos of heroin.

As the news of Kara’s arrest reached Syed, he set about fleeing the UK, knowing the contents of his lieutenant’s phones would implicate him as the crime group’s kingpin. 

He swiftly swapped his luxury cars – a Mercedes GLE and a Nissan GTR – for two watches valued at £63,000 and £40,000 respectively.

And two days after Kara’s arrest, on 19 September 2019, Syed left the UK.

Photos found on Kara’s phone included invoices for consignment shipments and large quantities of cash, as well as snaps of Syed driving a forklift truck used to offload drug deliveries. 

Syed returned to West Yorkshire briefly two months later, as he believed his uncle Asghar Badshah, a Bradford bus driver aged 39 at the time, had stolen money from him.

He arranged and paid for Asghar Badshah to undertake a polygraph examination – commonly referred to as a lie detector test – in an attempt to find out if he had stolen the money.

Once Syed was told his uncle had failed the lie detector test, he hatched a plan to kidnap and interrogate him with the support of his accomplice Qaisar Shah, 40.

Asghar Badshah was kidnapped by Syed, Shah and three men from Surrey on the night of 29 November 2019 and taken to a disused vault inside a former branch of Yorkshire Bank.

Once there he was tortured through the night as Syed attempted to extract information about the missing money.

Asghar Badshah died as a result of the prolonged attack at the hands of his nephew and Shah.

A post-mortem examination found he was struck with a blunt object at least 48 times on his head, neck, torso, and all four limbs.

Asghar Badshah was reported missing by his family and a sustained West Yorkshire Police search led to the discovery of his body on 29 December 2019 – a month after his kidnapping.   

His body was found wrapped in a cloth and hidden on a shelving unit inside the vault. A false wall had also been built on the staircase leading down to the vault in a bid to prevent the body being discovered.

Syed then left the UK again on 5 December 2019, having returned for less than a fortnight, and travelled from Albania to Kosovo, and then onto Turkey using a false North Macedonian passport.

While overseas he continued to run his drug trafficking empire, and his crime group arranged for huge shipments of up to 200 kilos of cocaine and heroin to be smuggled into the UK.

Some of the shipments were seized by law enforcement, including 155 kilos of cocaine seized by the Dutch authorities in August 2020.

Syed was arrested in Turkey on 11 November 2021 following a global manhunt, and after fighting extradition for two years, was brought back to the UK to stand trial. 

Nigel Coles, NCA senior investigating officer, said: « We have successfully prosecuted and gained significant custodial sentences against individuals at every level of this crime group, dismantling Syed’s large-scale international operation from top to bottom.

« And justice has now been served to one of Britain’s biggest crime bosses.

« This result is a culmination of extensive investigations led by teams here at the NCA and at West Yorkshire Police.

« I hope Syed’s conviction provides some sense of justice to the family of Asghar Badshah, who sadly had his life taken by a man who would stop at nothing to protect his criminal empire. »

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/international-drug-trafficker-tortured-and-murdered-his-uncle

National Crime Agency investigators are appealing for information to help find three men wanted in connection with the supply of class A drugs.

Thomas Michael Dunwoodie, 56, and Paul Anthony Elsley, 57, are subject to a joint National Crime Agency and North East Regional Organised Crime Unit investigation relating to cocaine supply in North East England.

(Left to right) Paul Elsey, Andrew Doran & Thomas Dunwoodie

Both men were arrested in 2020 but left the UK in 2022 prior to being charged with drug-related offences. Neither have been heard of since and arrest warrants are in place for both.

Dunwoodie originates from the North Tyneside area. Elsley was living in the North Shields area at the time of the alleged offending but is known to have links in the Republic of Ireland.

In a separate but connected NCA investigation, Andrew Doran, 41, originally from the Merseyside area, is wanted in relation to an allegation of being involved in a network that was importing cocaine into the UK. He is known to have been living in the Malaga area of Spain for a number of years.

In total, the OCGs for both investigations are believed to have smuggled up to 325 kilos of cocaine, and moved more than £8 million in cash related to drugs purchases.

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Almost 50 suspects have been arrested in a large-scale operation supported by Europol against the largest criminal network operating in the Canary Island (Spain). The investigation was led by Spanish authorities and also involved law enforcement from Portugal, Colombia, UK and USA. 

Results of the operation:

48 suspects arrested

3.8 tonnes of cocaine seized

29 house searches in Fuerteventura (2), Gran Canaria (13) and Lanzarote (14)

69 vehicles seized (19 boats and speedboats)

6 properties seized

EUR 100 000 in cash seized

Crucial police cooperation

This successful joint investigation involved the following authorities from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean: 

• Portugal: Judiciary Police (Polícia Judiciária)
• Spain: National Police (Policía Nacional)
• Colombia: National Police (Policía Nacional)
• UK: National Crime Agency (NCA)
• USA: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
• Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC, Narcotics)

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Seize homicides en Martinique entre janvier et juin, vingt-sept en Guadeloupe et dans les petites collectivités de Saint-Martin et Saint-Barthélemy : une vague de violence inédite déferle sur les Antilles depuis le début de l’année. Le macabre décompte s’est encore accéléré en mai et en juin dans ces deux territoires, avec sept hommes tués par balle en Martinique depuis le 11 mai, tandis que cinq homicides ont endeuillé le département voisin en dix jours seulement, entre le 26 mai et le 4 juin.

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Dans le fiasco de l’opération de « Trident » où près de 400 kg de cocaïne d’une opération de « livraison surveillée » de l’OFAST se sont évanouis dans Marseille, un troisième policier se trouve mis en examen. Deux sont déjà incarcérés.

Un serrurier, homme à tout faire, qui bosse parfois avec la police, finit par balancer qu’un major de la police qui pilotait cette « livraison surveillée » s’était fait remettre un sac rempli de billets contenant un demi-million d’euros en cash.

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Au total, seize individus figurent sur le tableau de chasse des policiers dans cette première vague d’arrestations : Leonardo Rizzuto, fils cadet de l’ancien parrain Vito Rizzuto, Stefano Sollecito, cochef du clan des Siciliens de la mafia montréalaise, Vito Salvaggio, Mario Sollecito et Stacey Richard Krolik, membres du même clan, Davide Barberio, Gianpietro Tiberio, le Hells Angels Jean-Richard Larivière, le chef de gang Jean-Ismaël Zéphir, et de présumés exécutants, Michel Cliche, Daniele Guarna, Pierry Philogène, Darius Perry et Patrick Gilbert.

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Pour mémoire, en 1994, Pierino Divito, lié au clan Rizzuto, avait été arrêté en compagnie de son fils Michael au Nouveau-Brunswick, pour avoir tenté d’importer de Colombie, par bateau, 5420 kg de cocaïne.

Le cargo « Pacifico » a été arraisonné et saisi par la GRC.

Cette opération dans laquelle l’agent infiltré Marc Fiévet a été contraint de plaider coupable par la Douane française, pour éviter que les poursuites engagés contre Divito et la saisie illégale du Pacifico, ne soient invalidées.

Marc Fievet fut condamné à perpétuité par le juge Frédéric Arsenault, un juge connu pour son addiction au gin et ivre, lors du procès à Bathurst.

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Allo, Allo Bercy !

Les recettes, les dépenses et le solde budgétaire combinés des administrations provinciales et territoriales provenant des taxes sur le cannabis et des bénéfices du commerce du cannabis se sont élevés à 1,5 milliard de dollars au premier trimestre de 2025, en hausse par rapport à 868 milliards de dollars au premier trimestre de 2024.

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The Gross domestic product (GDP) for the cannabis sector in Canada was $9.1 billion in Q1 2025, continuing an ongoing trend.

The most recent, seasonally adjusted figures from Statistics Canada show that the cannabis industry’s contribution to Canada’s GDP was $9.104 billion in the first three months of 2025. This is an increase from $8.3 billion in 2024. 

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La Guardia Civil ha interceptado un cargamento de 4.762 kilos de hachís escondidos en el interior de un camión procedente de Tánger-Med (Marruecos), tras detectar alteraciones en la estructura del vehículo y un comportamiento sospechoso por parte del conductor, que ha sido detenido como presunto autor de un delito contra la salud pública.

Fuente y mas

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La Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos efectúa seis operaciones marítimas para incautar la droga y envía al fondo del mar las embarcaciones de los narcos

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Des entreprises légales pour couvrir la cocaïne

À l’été 2024, une première opération est menée au Portugal: les forces de l’ordre interpellent sept individus soupçonnés d’avoir été les destinataires de tels colis. En fin d’année, les autorités espagnoles arrêtent 13 autres personnes, dont une «cible de haute valeur», soit un narcotrafiquant déjà recherché pour d’autres affaires.

L’ensemble de ces suspects avaient spécialement créé des entreprises de logistique légales pour couvrir leurs importations.

Congelée, donc indétectable

La première phase des investigations débute dès 2024, quand des autorités découvrent et saisissent au sein de colis transportant de la poudre congelée de yucca – une plante originaire d’Amérique centrale – de fines couches de cocaïne, savamment dissimulée. Puisque la poudre était congelée, la cocaïne était totalement indétectable par les chiens renifleurs de la police. Elle ne pouvait également pas être vue sur les scanners des douaniers, en raison de la «densité et de la couleur» de la poudre de yucca.

Le mode opératoire est ensuite constaté à plusieurs reprises sur des colis venant du Costa Rica, pays désormais privilégié par les cartels pour exporter la cocaïne, en raison de «l’intensification de la pression policière sur les ports, notamment en Équateur», d’après Europol.

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La Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) de la Guardia Civil en colaboración con la Policía Judiciaria de Portugal ha desarticulado una organización criminal internacional que escondían cocaína en contenedores de fruta mientras intentaban introducirla en varios puertos de Europa, entre los que se encontraba el de Sevilla, donde se han incautado 350 kilos de droga que presuntamente tenían como destino la capital andaluza.

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Les dissimulateurs assermentés, associés à un indic criminel, n’avaient pas apprécié !

Regarder

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Dix trafiquants présumés ont été placés en détention provisoire en Guadeloupe, soupçonnés d’appartenir à un réseau international de trafic de stupéfiants ayant introduit au moins 15 tonnes de drogues, principalement de la cocaïne, mais également de l’herbe de cannabis sur le territoire, en l’espace de deux ans. L’annonce a été faite mercredi par le parquet de Fort-de-France, en Martinique.

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Les douanes françaises et suisses ont mené conjointement une opération douanière d’envergure dans la nuit de lundi à mardi. Dans un communiqué, les autorités ont précisé que le but de cette opération était « de lutter contre les trafics illicites, la fraude douanière et la criminalité transfrontalière. »

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