Addicted to violence

One man was left for dead in a country lane and two other victims were dumped, injured and bleeding. DREW KENDELL reports...

The moment five kilos of heroin disappeared from the boot of Waheed Akhtar's car it was plain someone would end up paying dearly.

The 46-year-old was one of Bradford's largest heroin traffickers and there was no way he could disregard losing £250,000 of the drug.

Money was not the only issue at stake. Akhtar (pictured) , known as the Colonel, was established as a main player in the city's criminal underworld and his reputation would not allow the betrayal to go unpunished.

He needed to make an example of the thief or his enemies would seize upon such a sign of weakness.

At the same time, his powerful London connections, who had their own stake in the shipment, would demand action or Akhtar himself would face the consequences.

The Colonel immediately realised it was no chance theft because the Toyota Corolla outside his Acton Street home was undamaged. Whoever stole the drugs used the key - and this suggested it was someone close to him.

Indeed an associate Daniel Francis, better known as African, had earlier warned of a plot to rip him off. Within minutes of discovering the theft, Akhtar put his 'investigation' into motion.

The chief suspects - drug users Naveed Younis and a woman - were summoned to his terraced home where they were quizzed, but then released.

The following day, the woman returned to Akhtar's house to clear her name once and for all. But his right-hand man Azhar Mahmood had already assembled an 'interrogation squad' from Manchester who bundled her into a car and drove her to a house in Burnley.

There she was stripped, beaten, forced to take heroin and drink alcohol before their brutal questioning began.

Meanwhile, Younis, widely known as 'Niddy', was again summoned to Acton Street where the moment he walked through the door, Akhtar and Shazan Sikander - the London arm of national drugs ring - lashed out with baseball bats and sticks. They shoved their bleeding victim into the boot of Akhtar's Mercedes and drove to his house in Washington Street, Girlington, where a search for the consignment proved fruitless.

Akthar, now becoming increasingly desperate, ordered that both 'suspects' were brought to a warehouse he rented at Try Mills in Thornton Road where they were immediately tied to chairs. One man, Sagir Alam, shouted at the woman "Where are the drugs?" and hit her with a heavy wheel brace.

At the same time, the gang began 'working' on Younis with a scaffold pole, a snooker cue and batons.

And so began a horrendous sequence of interrogation and beatings lasting at least six hours. At one point, the gang even tied a noose around Younis's neck and carried out a mock hanging."In the end, they sat the pair opposite each other and told them to argue it out between them to see who was telling the truth," said Det Sgt Chris Walker, who led the investigation.

It was then that the name of Francis, who had been watching proceedings, was first mentioned. "He immediately became a suspect and the others began beating him to a pulp," said Det Sgt Walker.

"He was knocked unconscious but when he fell to the floor they continued hitting him with a scaffold pole and whipping him with a length of wire."

At one point, he had a gun pointed at his head but when the trigger was pulled, it only clicked.

During the "inquisition" Francis had all four of his limbs broken, both his hands were smashed and his jaw was fractured.

Det Sgt Walker said, "When he got to hospital, medical staff thought he had been run over. At one point he technically died and had to be resuscitated." By 7am, Akhtar needed to get rid of the bloodied trio before neighbouring businesses spotted them.

They were bundled into cars and dumped at various spots across the district.

The woman found herself close to Bradford Royal Infirmary while Younis, who suffered 20 different injuries including a stab wound to the chest, was left near his family home in Girlington.

Francis, whose huge loss of blood had lead to hypothermia, was thrown out behind a mound of earth at a rural spot in Wilsden.

As detectives began tracing suspects, Akhtar fled to his native Pakistan, only to return in January. But before he gave himself up to police, he offered the victims £50,000 and foreign holidays to change their statements - and even had new versions typed for them.

The missing drugs were never found. "This was someone who portrayed himself as a respectable businessmen who bought and sold cars and imported bottled water from Pakistan. But the fact of the matter was he was a top-level trafficker who used the businesses as a front for his drugs empire," said Det Sgt Walker."

Akhtar had a lot of respect and held a lot of influence. He had a great many contacts in that criminal field."

When the case came before Bradford Crown Court , Waheed Akhtar, 46, of Acton Street, Bradford, denied conspiring to supply drugs, attempting to murder Mr Daniel and assault occasioning grievous bodily harm against Mr Younis and another 36-year-old woman. He also denied kidnapping all three and perverting the course of justice by offering them cash to change their police statements. A jury unanimously found him guilty of all charges and he was jailed for a total of 25 years.

Shazan Sikander, 36, of Lomorna Close, Walthamstow, London, was found guilty of identical charges except perverting the course of justice and was jailed for 20 years.

Azhar Mahmood, 38, of Harrogate Terrace, Bradford, described during the trial as Akhtar's assistant, was found guilty of the drugs charge, not guilty of attempted murder but guilty of kidnapping and grievous bodily harm against the three victims. He received a 13 year sentence.

Ishrat Rubbani, 23, of Kearsley, Road, Manchester, was found guilty of identical charges and also jailed for 13 years. Sagir Alam, 21, of Heywood Street, Manchester, was cleared of the drugs charge but found guilty of kidnapping and grievous bodily harm against all three victims. He was cleared of indecently assaulting the woman. He was jailed for ten years.

Asif Iqbal, 20, of Waterloo Road, Manchester, was sent to a young offender institution for ten years after being convicted of identical charges. Det Sgt Walker said: "These convictions have brought to an end a major heroin distribution network operating throughout the UK with connections in London, Manchester, Bradford and Lancashire.

"This ruthless organisation demonstrated how they were prepared to stop at absolutely nothing to protect their empire. The victims have suffered a horrendous ordeal and quite appalling injuries in the case of Mr Francis."

He also paid tribute to their bravery in giving evidence despite attempts at bribery and intimidation.

"This case clearly shows that when people are prepared to come to the police and stand up in court to give evidence West Yorkshire Police has the skill and determination to secure convictions against vicious, ruthless career criminals" he added.