TWO MEN AND A WOMAN FROM MANCHESTER WHO ORCHESTRAT

TWO MEN AND A WOMAN FROM MANCHESTER WHO ORCHESTRATED THE
SMUGGLING INTO THIS COUNTRY OF ABOUT #300,000 WORTH OF HEROIN, WERE
JAILED FOR A TOTAL OF 17 YEARS AT ISLEWORTH CROWN COURT TODAY (MON).

BUT THE PAKISTANI WOMAN WHO ACTUALLY CARRIED THE DRUG INTO
HEATHROW AIRPORT HIDDEN IN HER CLOTHING, SUCCESSFULLY PERSUADED THE
JURY SHE WAS ACTING UNDER DURESS.

ALLA DITTA, 47, SHOP OWNER OF ESMOND RD, MANCHESTER 8, SAID TO
BE THE ORGANISER AND DISTRIBUTOR OF THE U.

K.

END, WAS JAILED FOR

EIGHT YEARS.

MAHMOOD HUSSAIN, 32, OF PENDINE WAY, CHEETHAM, WHO TRAVELLED
WITH THE WOMEN FROM PAKISTAN AND WAS SAID TO HAVE THREATENED THE
COURIER, WAS JAILED FOR SIX YEARS.

THE SECOND OF HIS THREE WIVES, MRS SARIFA KARA, 41, OF
MAKEPEACE WALK, MANCHESTER 8, WHO HELPED TO HIDE THE DRUG IN THE
CLOTHING, WAS JAILED FOR THREE YEARS.

DITTA AND MRS KARA WERE FOUND GUILTY BY THE JURY OF BEING
CONCERNED IN THE ILLEGAL IMPORTATION OF 3.

54 KILOS OF HEROIN AT
HEATHROW ON MAY 5.

HUSSAIN PLEADED GUILTY TO THE SAME CHARGE AND MRS KITIZA

BEGUM, 27, FROM KARACHI, WAS ACQUITTED.

SOME OF THE HEROIN WAS HIDDEN IN CARTONS OF DUTY-FREE

CIGARETTES ‘BUT THE CONTENTS WERE MUCH TOO HEAVY’, SAID MR NEILL
STEWART, PROSECUTING.

AND WHEN MRS BEGUM WAS STOPPED AS SHE WALKED THROUGH THE
‘GREEN’ CHANNEL AT TERMINAL THREE AND, AFTER THE DISCOVERY IN THE
CIGARETTES, WAS SUBJECTED TO A SEARCH.

‘CUSTOMS OFFICERS FOUND SHE WAS WEARING A GIRDLE IN WHICH WERE

HIDDEN PACKETS OF HEROIN, BACK AND FRONT, AND ALSO A KNEE BANDAGE
CONCEALING ANOTHER PACKAGE’, SAID COUNSEL.

SHE TOLD CUSTOMS OFFICERS AND THE COURT SHE DID NOT KNOW WHAT
WAS IN THE PACKETS AND BROUGHT THEM BECAUSE SHE WAS TOLD TO BY HER
BOYFRIEND IN PAKISTAN AND BY HUSSAIN WHO THREATENED HER.

HUSSAIN WAS ALSO STOPPED BY CUSTOMS OFFICERS AND HIS PAPERS
REVEALED HE WAS TRAVELLING WITH MRS BEGUM, SAID COUNSEL.

MRS KARA,
WHO HAD ALSO BEEN ON THE FLIGHT, WAS NOT ARRESTED UNTIL SHE ARRIVED

AT MANCHESTER’S PICADILLY STATION.

THE NEXT DAY HUSSAIN CLOSELY GUARDED BY CUSTOMS OFFICERS WAS

TAKEN TO MANCHESTER WHERE HE TELEPHONED DITTA FROM THE STATION.

‘DITTA WAS EXPECTING HIM AND WAS VERY PLEASED’, SAID COUNSEL.

HUSSAIN TOLD HIM HE HAD BROUGHT ‘THE THING’ AND HE SHOULD

COME TO THE STATION TO COLLECT IT.

‘HE DID SO WITH SOME ENTHUSIASM,

LEAVING HIS SHOP UNATTENDED’, SAID MR STEWART.

DITTA WAS ARRESTED AS HE TOOK A BAG FROM HUSSAIN.

HE CLAIMED IN

COURT HE THOUGHT IT WAS ‘CHEAP JEWELLERY’ HE WAS COLLECTING.

MUCH OF THE DEFENCE CASE WAS TAKEN UP WITH ARGUMENT ON MUSLIM
LAW AS TO WHETHER OR NOT MRS KARA WAS STILL LEGALLY MARRIED TO

HUSSAIN.

THIS WAS BECAUSE SHE CLAIMED COERCION, A DEFENCE ONLY
AVAILABLE TO WIVES.

BUT TWO EXPERTS AGREED THE VALIDITY OF HER
DIVORCE AND SHE WAS FOUND GUILTY OF THE CHARGE.

ENDS