Two men who attempted to smuggle 14kg of high-purity cocaine inside a "sophisticated" fake gas canister have been jailed.

The class A drug, worth an estimated £1.4m, was stashed inside the device which released real gas from a valve.

Faruk Miah, 44, and Safraz Latif, 37, conspired to transport it from London to Bradford last February.

At Bradford Crown Court, Miah was jailed for 18 years and Latif was handed an 11-year prison term.

The court heard how police watched Miah take the canister from the boot of his Audi before hiding it in the basement of a house undergoing renovation on Cornwall Place.

After raiding the property, police searched another address in Whiteways where they found an 8mm semi-automatic gun, a banknote-counting machine, a heat-sealing device and an angle grinder, all described as "the tools" of Miah's "evil" drugs trade by Judge Ahmed Nadim.

Sentencing, he told them: "In your pursuit of riches you did not care about the damage inflicted on the community."

He was told Miah had previously been jailed for violent disorder and Latif had served three years for drugs trafficking offences.

Miah's barrister, Jeremy Barton, said he got involved in the drugs supply ring because he was a drug user and had run up a debt.

Mr Barton said there was no evidence of Miah having a lavish lifestyle or that the gun had ever been used.

Judge Nadim commended all the police officers involved in the investigation for their professionalism and thoroughness.

Det Insp Mark Atkinson, of West Yorkshire Police, said: "This was a complex investigation which involved a certain degree of sophistication by the perpetrators in their attempts to avoid detection."

Miah, of Cornwall Place, Manningham, Bradford, admitted possession with intent to supply cocaine and cannabis at a previous hearing but was found guilty by a jury of possessing a prohibited firearm.

Safraz Latif, 37, of Beacon Grove, Wibsey, Bradford, who had transported the gas canister to Miah, was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

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HM Courts & Tribunals Service

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