HENCHMEN for a blind drugs baron – who operated in East Lancashire and West Yorkshire – were convicted of supporting the enterprise after a Burnley Crown Court trial.

Detectives raided a home in Persia Street, Accrington, as part of a probe into a heroin ring stretching from Bradford to Accrington, and found drugs, £40,000, a hydraulic press, alongside a handgun, silencer and ammunition.

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Lodger Zaheer Mahmood and next-door neighbour Nadeem Abbas were detained as part of Operation Kaitlyn. The heroin ring’s kingpin, Rizwan Arshad, commanded operations either side of the Pennines. He was jailed for 21 years in September.

Mahmood, 32, eventually confessed he knew about the drugs operation after being asked to “bag up” heroin at the house – but denied knowledge of the gun, silencer and ammunition.

Abbas, who had moved from Nelson to Accrington for work, denied knowledge of the drugs or guns. He claimed he had relocated with the promise of a takeaway job from Kashif Hamid, who was also involved in the drugs ring.

The jury heard about a trip from Accrington to Bradford, involving taxi driver Mahmood and Abbas as passenger, which ended with drugs being collected and passed on.

Mahmood, 49, insisted he had been told by Abbas that the journey was designed to pick up some “cheap alcohol” and he had no idea heroin transportation was the aim.

Abbas admitted conspiracy to supply heroin but Mahmood denied the offence. The pair, both of Persia Street, each denied possession of the gun, silencer or ammunition. Both were convicted of all disputed charges after a two-week trial.

Adjourning the case for sentence, Judge Graham Knowles QC said: “It is inevitable for offences of this seriousness that the defendants are going to prison for a long time.”

Hamid, of Portland Street, Accrington, was jailed at Bradford Crown Court for his role in the conspiracy, along with Arshad and two other Bradford men. Stephen Rowe, 53, of Flinton Grove, Bradford, also awaits sentencing for his role in the plot.