Smuggler’s 9-year term ‘deserved’

Dec 5 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

AN asylum seeker from Huddersfield who smuggled a £200,000 consignment of opium into Manchester Airport hidden inside a welding machine deserved every day of his nine-year jail term, top judges have ruled.

Ghulam Reza Salimi, 49, of Clare Hill, Huddersfield, was handed the tough jail term at Leeds Crown Court in April after admitting conspiracy to supply 20 kilos of opium.

Also jailed for seven years was Naser Gholami, 32, of Atherton Grange Court, Leeds, who admitted the same charge.

Both were appealing against the length of their sentences.

Mr Justice Stadlen, sitting with Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Saunders in London’s Appeal Court yesterday said the pair were involved in an elaborate plot to smuggle opium into the UK concealed inside a welding machine.

Salimi, an Iranian, had entered the UK eight years ago as an asylum seeker, but used contacts in Iran who arranged the clandestine cargo’s shipment.