TWO drug smugglers from Blackburn were due to be sentenced today for trying to bring £400,000 worth of heroin into the country through Gatwick Airport.

Saeed Mahmood, 34, of Revidge Road, Blackburn, was convicted yesterday of being concerned in smuggling the drugs after a trial during which much of the evidence was heard by the jury in secret.

Rasab Khan, 49, of Shaw Street, Blackburn, had previously admitted the offence.

Mahmood had denied the allegation that he was involved with the enterprise.

The Public Interest Immunity rules were invoked at Croydon Crown Court, and Judge Sir David Hughes-Morgan directed that several hours of the hearing would be held in camera to keep sensitive information confidential.

Khan was arrested by Customs officers at Gatwick Airport on August 1 last year when it was discovered he had four kilograms of the drug strapped to his leg. He had just landed on a flight from Islamabad.

Mahmood was waiting for him in a car and he, too, was arrested.

Mahmood admitted he had earlier been to Pakistan and had taken £4,000 with him.

He said he had gone there to visit his sick father and to attend his brother's wedding.

He had stayed in the same area of Pakistan and had remained with his family.

He added that he had had no idea that Khan was bringing drugs into Britain and he denied he had taken the £4,000 to Pakistan to buy the heroin brought back by Khan.

Mahmood has a previous conviction in 1991 for smuggling two kilos of heroin, which Customs found hidden in his shoes and in a suitcase. He was jailed then for five years.

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