Indian-origin man gets 9-year jail term for drugs offences in UK

An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to nine years' imprisonment by a UK court after being found guilty of conspiracy to supply illegal Class A drugs.

Jeetendra Parekh, 48, was sentenced after a three-day trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London on Thursday.

The court was told that Parekh and a female accomplice, 29-year-old Sibela Ahmed, were caught in a taxi by Scotland Yard officers carrying a plastic bag containing 5 kilograms of heroin in the rear passenger foot-well, with an estimated street value of 500,000 pounds.

Officers later searched an address linked to Ahmed and found a further 46 kg of heroin, with an estimated street value of 4.6 million pounds.

Ahmed had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession with intent to supply and was jailed for eight years last month.

"This operation has seen a significant quantity of drugs removed from London's streets and we are pleased Parekh will be joining Ahmed behind bars," said Detective Constable Kevin Rowley, from the Metropolitan Police's East Area Proactive Team.

"I hope these lengthy sentences provide some level of reassurance to the public that we are doing all we can to clamp down on drug dealers and the criminality associated with them," he said.

The Met Police team had caught Parekh and Ahmed with the drugs in December last year.