A brutal crime boss used shipments of frozen chicken to smuggle £125million of cocaine and heroin into the UK – before kidnapping, torturing and murdering his own uncle.
Tahir Syed, 42, brought in 200 kilos of drugs at a time using lorries driven from the Netherlands to a warehouse he rented in Bradford.
The drugs were hidden within sealed boxes of chicken, which were emptied upon arrival and the chicken disposed of.
Syed’s trial heard how the kingpin turned on his uncle, 39-year-old bus driver Asghar Badshah, in the belief he had stolen money from him.
After arranging for Mr Badshah to be kidnapped, he took him to a disused bank in nearby Batley, where he was beaten to death with a metal rod and his body hidden behind a false wall.
Mr Badshah’s naked body was hidden behind a false wall in a vault, where it was found four weeks later.
Syed was found guilty of murder, kidnap and drug trafficking after a five-week trial and sentenced this month to a minimum of 34 years in prison.
The prosecution described him as a ‘significant player in the international cocaine and heroin trade, with an ‘extensive’ network of criminal contacts in the UK and abroad.
But he was brought down by EncroChat messages found on his associates’ phones, one of which included a picture of Syed offloading drug deliveries using a forklift truck.
An photo obtained from EncroChat showing Tahir Syed, 42, driving a forklift truck
The drugs were hidden within sealed boxes of chicken, which were emptied upon arrival and the chicken disposed of
Packages of drugs seized from the gang, which was based in West Yorkshire
Syed kidnapped his uncle and took him to this bank vault, where he was tortured and murdered
By the summer of 2019, Syed’s criminal underlings were under surveillance by the National Crime Agency following the successful hack of EncroChat, an encrypted messaging system used by criminals.
That September, his right-hand man Yusuf Kara, 36, and another associate, Imran Khan Ashraf, were seen moving heavy bags between several vehicles in Bradford.
Ashraf was stopped and arrested in Bolton, and a vacuum-packed bag containing just under £130,000 found hidden inside his vehicle alongside four mobile phones.
Khan was arrested the same afternoon and two phones taken from him alongside 51 kilos of heroin that were found at his home.
The moment Syed heard of the arrests he set about making plans to leave the UK – knowing that the messages on Kara’s phone would identify him as the gang’s leader.
To allow him to escape with some of his wealth, he swapped his luxury cars – a Mercedes GLE and a Nissan GTR – for two watches worth £103,000.
Syed also asked his uncle, Mr Badshah, to hide a vast stash of dirty money for him, before leaving Britain on September 19, 2019.
But he later suspected his uncle had stolen £600,000 of this cash, and arranged for him to carry out a lie detector test.
Syed brought in 200 kilos of drugs at a time using lorries coming from the Netherlands to a warehouse he rented in Bradford
Syed’s uncle, 39-year-old Asghar Badshah, was not involved in crime, his family said
The gang brought in 200 kilos of drugs at a time inside the wrapped boxes
After Mr Badshah failed this, Syed hatched a plan to kidnap and interrogate him with the support of his accomplice Qaisar Shah, 40.
Leeds Crown Court told how Mr Badshah was kidnapped from his mother’s address in Bradford, in a Mercedes at around 1.35am before being taken to the abandoned bank vault – which previously belonged to Yorkshire Bank – and tortured throughout the night.
A post-mortem examination found he was struck with a metal rod object at least 48 times on his head, neck, torso, and all four limbs.
After Mr Badshah was reported missing by his family, West Yorkshire Police began a search that led to his body being found wrapped in a cloth and hidden on a shelving unit inside the vault.
A false wall had also been built on the staircase leading down to the vault in a bid to prevent the body being discovered.
Syed then lied to his family that Mr Badshah was still alive, before fleeing the UK to the Netherlands, Albania and Iran before he was arrested in Turkey on November 11 after a major global manhunt.
The kingpin was successfully prosecuted for drug smuggling and murder using EncroChat messages recovered from his associates’ phones.
Photos found on Kara’s handset included invoices for consignment shipments and large quantities of cash.
Piles of cash that were seized from the gang, which smuggled in £125million of drugs in total
EncroChat messages helped snare the gang. Pictured are piles of seized banknotes
Qaisar Shah and Wajid Hussain helped with the kidnap
His made more than 30 shipments of cocaine and heroin to the UK from 2016 to 2021.
Some of the shipments were seized by law enforcement, including 155 kilos of cocaine intercepted by Dutch officials in August 2020.
Nigel Coles, NCA senior investigating officer, said: ‘We have successfully prosecuted and gained significant custodial sentences against individuals at every level of this crime group, dismantling Syed’s large-scale international operation from top to bottom.
‘And justice has now been served to one of Britain’s biggest crime bosses.
‘This result is a culmination of extensive investigations led by teams here at the NCA and at West Yorkshire Police.
‘I hope Syed’s conviction provides some sense of justice to the family of Asghar Badshah, who sadly had his life taken by a man who would stop at nothing to protect his criminal empire.’
Following the sentence, a spokesperson on behalf of Asghar’s family said: ‘The loss we feel as a family is beyond words.
‘The pain we endure each day, the hurt, and the emptiness left behind by these traumatic events have left a permanent mark on all of us. We carry a deep and lasting sorrow that time will never fully heal.
‘The grief we carry is incomprehensible. During the trial, the court heard the truth about our beloved brother, Asghar Badshah – an honest, hard-working family man who served his community as a bus driver in the very place where he was born and raised.
He stayed away from criminality and was brutally murdered in cold blood by a wicked individual with a long history of harming others.’
A suitcase full of drugs that was seized from Syed’s right-hand man Yusuf Kara, 36
The seize of the seizures showed the immense scale of Syed’s operation
Detective Chief Superintendent Heather Whoriskey, West Yorkshire Police senior investigating officer, said: ‘Syed kidnapped, tortured and murdered his own Uncle for information as he believed that Asghar had stolen money from him.
‘This perceived debt was about more than just money, it was about Syed’s reputation and role as an international drug trafficker.
‘Syed was a professional criminal who would import and distribute huge amounts of cocaine and heroin.
‘Shortly after the murder Syed fled the country and continued to traffic drugs across the continent.
‘Today’s sentence is the culmination of years of hard work. We would like to thank our partners at the National Crime Agency for assisting us in bringing Syed back to this country to face his crimes.
‘This has been a lengthy and trying ordeal for the family of Asghar Badshah. They have been courageous, patient and brave throughout the whole process. Although today’s sentence will never bring him back, I hope it gives his family some comfort and closure knowing that the man responsible for his death has been sentenced for his murder.’
