Drug trafficker Akhlaq Muhammad smuggled heroin into the UK in children’s balloons

A drug trafficker has been jailed after he smuggled £1.5m worth of heroin into the UK - hidden in children’s balloons.

Akhlaq Muhammad, 42, also hid drugs in a coffee machine and a carpet in a bid to trick customs officials between March 2021 and September 2022.

Police said he conspired with people in Pakistan, Dubai and Birmingham to smuggle the heroin to his house in Blackburn, Lancashire. He used foil balloon in the shape of TV and film characters such as Minions to smuggle the narcotics into the country.

The force said he used false names to have 11 packages of heroin with a combined weight of 50lb (23kg) delivered to his house in the town. A search of his home revealed a "drug dealer burner phone" and a large cardboard box containing balloons which were "similar to those seized containing heroin".

He was subsequently charged with and later admitted conspiracy to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug. He was jailed for six years at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday (July, 18).

Speaking after sentencing, DC Tom Edmondson said the drug trafficker had considered himself "a criminal mastermind" who "could outsmart the authorities". He said: "Thanks to the hard work and diligence of the investigation team, we have managed to put a pin in Muhammad’s sophisticated criminal network."

Andrew Snowden, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, said: "It’s important that we send a clear message to criminals that police are coming to get you. This is another great example of the work officers do, every single day, to disrupt and dismantle organised crime gangs and put them behind bars."