Two men caught smuggling £4m worth of heroin into UK through port jailed for total of 19 years

Two men who smuggled £4m worth of heroin into the UK have been jailed for a total of 19 years.

Rajesh Bakshi, from Haddington in East Lothian, worked alongside Jon-Paul Clark to organise an importation of 40kg of the class A drug.

Their load was stopped at Dover in June 2022, and investigators found Clark’s DNA on the packaging as well as Bakshi’s fingerprints.

Bakshi, 57, admitted smuggling the drugs, but Clark told a jury at Canterbury Crown Court that his DNA was present because Bakshi was wearing his jumper, implying he had been framed.

Jon-Paul Clark, 44, of Crosby, Liverpool, organised an importation of 40kg of heroin with conspirator Rajesh Bakshi, 57, of Haddington, East Lothian. NCA

The jury convicted the pair, with Bakshi jailed for ten years and Clark jailed for nine.

Clark’s and Bakshi’s phones were both identified as travelling in Holland and Belgium in the days leading up to the seizure.

Officers found a photo of Clark and Bakshi together on Clark’s phone, taken just days before the drugs were intercepted.

Texts were also found of Clark asking Bakshi for cash in the weeks following the seizure.

Drugs smuggled by Jon-Paul Clark and Rajesh Bakshi NCA

Jules Harriman, senior investigating officer at the National Crime Agency, said: “My officers built a solid case against Clark, who clearly tried to pull the wool over the jury’s eyes.

“There was clear evidence of his guilt, and the jury saw through his attempts to cheat justice.

“Both offenders didn’t have the slightest care for the impact that class A drugs have on our communities.

“The NCA, working with partners at home and abroad, will continue to do everything possible to fight the threat of Class A drugs.”