A gang of men from Bradford and Keighley who conspired to supply cash and drugs worth over £1m have been jailed for a total of nearly 25 years.
Ringleader Shafiqul Ali, aged 34 of St George's Place, Bradford, was sentenced to six years at Bradford Crown Court for his role in the plot, which was uncovered by officers from the Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit in June last year.
Zaheer Bashir, aged 37, of Horton Grange Road, Bradford, received four years, while Ali Hussain, aged 27, of Tivoli Place, Bradford, was jailed for three years and four months.
The three men were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court, along with Ahmed Fraz, aged 25, of Giles Street, Bradford who received a community order, and Mudasar Iqbal, 32, of Devonshire Street, Keighley, who received a suspended sentence.
Joseph Byrne, now 41, of Pasture Walk, Bradford, was jailed for six years and eight months at Bradford Crown Court last August, and Gareth Windsor, aged 38, of Beacon Road, Bradford, who was also sentenced at at an earlier date at Warwick Crown Court, was jailed for three years and nine months.
The plot was uncovered by police on 9 June 2015, when officers stopped a VW Golf car in Manchester and arrested Fraz and two other men on suspicion of conspiracy to supply controlled drugs.
Officers also seized £60,000 in cash from a search of the vehicle.
The following day (10 June) police stopped a Renault Kangoo van at Tamworth Services in Staffordshire. A search of the vehicle revealed a quantity of cannabis bush, which had been vacuum-packed and stored in cardboard boxes.
This was seized and the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, Windsor, was later charged with possession offences.
On 23 July last year, police stopped a black Mercedes car on the M1 in West Yorkshire and recovered four large blocks of what was later found to be cocaine. Its three occupants included Byrne, who pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
On 29 July, Bashir, of Horton Grange Road, Bradford was stopped in a Toyota Yaris in the Clayton area of Bradford.
A search of the vehicle revealed a carrier bag which was found to contain a quantity of heroin with an estimated street value of £49,000.
He was arrested and later charged with conspiracy to supply cannabis, heroin and cocaine, as well as a further charge of money laundering.
Communications work led to Ali and Hussain being identified as suspects and both men were charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine. Ali was also charged with conspiracy to supply cannabis.
Speaking after Iqbal's sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Walker, of the Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit, said:
"This Bradford-based crime group were involved in the UK wide trafficking of class A and B drugs.
"Their imprisonment demonstrates the success that forces in the Yorkshire and Humber region, alongside partners, are having in terms of tackling those involved in the drugs trade."
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