Drug smuggler jailed for eight years

JAILED: Tabassum Gulnar

AN Oldham drug smuggler who sneaked almost £500,000 worth of heroin into Manchester Airport in a suitcase has been jailed for eight years.

Tabassum Gulnar (33), of Lees Road, was caught as he headed through the nothing-to-declare channel at the airport with four packages of the drug hidden inside a false lining in the suitcase.

He was sentenced at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday, having been found guilty by a jury last month.

Sniffer dogs alerted the UK Border Agency to the luggage when they showed an intense interest in the brown case — prompting staff to put it through an X-ray machine.

Gulnar had travelled from Islamabad in Pakistan with his 13-year-old sister. A search showed the packages contained 6.36 kilograms of heroin, with a street value of up to £488,000.

The judge, Recorder Arthur Noble, said: “I come to the conclusion that you played what I can only describe as an operational function.

“I take the view this is a case which comes at the bottom end of a significant role. But this is a serious case.”


The full version of this story can be read in our print and eChron editions