£5 million of heroin woven into carpets
Every year billions of pounds worth of illegal substances enter the UK, and it is always a bit of a mystery how so many manage to bypass border control. This week police in Manchester discovered one new avenue: drugs woven into carpets.
Sniffer dogs working at Manchester airport detected drugs in rolled-up carpets. When the carpets were first unrolled no drugs were found; however, on further investigation it was discovered that heroin had been expertly woven by hand into the luxury carpets.
The drugs were held within thread-like sheaths that looked exactly the same as carpet yarn. The shipment of carpets included 46 individual hand-made knotted rugs, all from Peshawar in Pakistan. They came via Abu Dhabi in the Middle East.
The drugs were first detected on 24th April; however, due to the nature of the concealment, the consignment is still being examined. So far 50 kilograms of heroin has been extracted from the rugs, with police expecting to discover more.
This drugs haul is one of the largest heroin seizures at Manchester airport. Two men have been arrested in connection with drug smuggling.
Border Force’s assistant director, Linda Paul, said: “This is an extremely impressive seizure and I would like to praise the vigilance and hard work of my officers, who have ensured that a substantial amount of a harmful drugs have been kept off our streets. At this stage it is impossible to put an exact value on the drugs because forensic tests have yet to be carried out; however, it is safe to say that we are looking at a significant amount.”
This is certainly one of the most sophisticated concealments discovered to date.