Rajesh Bakshi, 57, of Haddington, East Lothian, and Jon-Paul Clark, 44, of Liverpool, organised an importation of heroin worth £4million.
A £4milion heroin smuggler from Scotland has been jailed after his co-accused claimed he was framed over a borrowed jumper.
Rajesh Bakshi, 57, of Haddington, East Lothian, was locked up for a decade on Thursday after he and Jon-Paul Clark, 44, of Crosby, Liverpool, organised an importation of 40kg of heroin.
Their load, with a street value of £4 million, was stopped at Dover in June 2022, where investigators found Bakshi’s fingerprints and Clark’s DNA on the packaging.
Bakshi admitted smuggling the class A drug, but Clark told a trial that his DNA was only found because Bakshi was wearing his jumper.
Clark was convicted and jailed for nine years at Canterbury Crown Court after his excuses were dismissed by the jury.
Jules Harriman, Senior Investigating Officer for 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 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.”
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.
The NCA said Bakshi has multiple previous convictions including conspiring and being involved with the supply of a controlled drug.
