Three members of an organised drugs importation network that smuggled cocaine and heroin into the United Kingdom from Europe have been jailed for more than 20 years.
Omar Assaf, 35 (15.06.81) of Hillview Close, Wembley, pleaded guilty on 31 August to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. He was jailed for seven years.
Debbie Reid, 45 (10.06.71) of Gorhambury, St Albans, pleaded guilty on 6 May to conspiracy to import Class A drugs. She was jailed for six years and eight months.
Aydin Aziz 45 (14.5.71) of The Ridgeway, Enfield, pleaded guilty on 3 October to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. He was jailed for seven years.
They were jailed on Thursday, 13 October, at Harrow Crown Court after admitting the offences at the same court.
Acting on intelligence, officers from the Met’s Specialist Crime and Operations Command launched an operation targeting the activities of an organised crime network importing and distributing Class A drugs involving the trio.
Officers witnessed the importer, Debbie Reid, travelling to and from France via the channel tunnel in Folkestone three times between 10 March and 6 April 2016.
On her journey back to St Albans she would meet with Omar Assaf and on the last occasion with both Assaf and Aydin Aziz.
On the afternoon of Wednesday 6 April, when Reid returned to the UK via Folkestone, police followed her. On this occasion she did not meet with anyone on the journey back to St Albans, but was seen to remove an orange carrier bag from the vehicle.
At the same time, Assaf was seen collecting Aziz and from there the two drove around St Albans before finally going to Reid’s address at Gorhambury.
At the front door of the property Reid handed Assaf the orange carrier bag that she had removed from her car.
Assaf placed it in the front passenger footwell of the vehicle and drove away from the address in the direction of Bluehouse Hill, St Albans.
At Bluehouse Hill, Met police officers attempted to stop the vehicle driven by Assaf, but his car rammed their vehicle and that of a member of the public. The men then fled on foot.
Following a short foot chase both Assaf and Aziz were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to import Class A drugs.
Debbie Reid was arrested around the same time as she was driving away from her home address on suspicion of conspiracy to import Class A drugs into the UK.
A search of Assaf’s vehicle revealed the orange carrier bag in the front passenger foot well which contained six wrapped packages. On testing, the packages were found to be two kilograms of cocaine and two kilograms of heroin.
DC Andrew Walker of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command said: “Debbie Reid, as the importer, was central to this network, with Omar Assaf and Aydin Aziz responsible for the onward distribution of the drugs. Reid was seen to blatantly smuggle the drugs in a carrier bag making no attempt to hide them.
“This police operation has successfully dismantled a network of sophisticated criminals, who, despite making use of encrypted mobile devices, did not manage to evade capture.”
