Five Walsall men arrested over alleged £1m heroin smuggling plot
Five Walsall men have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to smuggle more than £1 million of heroin into the West Midlands.
In a series of co-ordinated early morning raids, 70 officers from the National Crime Agency arrested the men at their homes.
The arrests follow a series of importations from Pakistan of packages containing heroin, three of which were seized by the NCA and Border Force at Birmingham and Manchester airports and at a freight agent.
Computer data and mobile phones seized during the operation are also being examined.
A number of search warrants were also executed at commercial premises in the Walsall area believed to be linked to the five.
Dawn Cartwright, head of the NCA's Birmingham border investigation team, said: "Our investigation has already prevented a significant quantity of heroin from making it to the streets and has severely disrupted what we believe is an organised crime group involved in smuggling heroin from Pakistan onto the streets of the West Midlands."
