Fikri Yarasir, 53, had been deported and barred by German government officials after he was jailed for ten years for importing heroin from his native Turkey into the city of Frankfurt in 1997
A Turkish crime lord moved to the UK to set up one of Britain’s biggest heroin smuggling rackets after he was kicked out of Germany for international drug trafficking.
Fikri Yarasir, 53, had been deported and barred by German government officials after he was jailed for ten years for importing heroin from his native Turkey into the city of Frankfurt in 1997.
But after his release from prison moustachioed Yarasir – nicknamed ‘Mario’ due to his likeness to the videogame character – moved to the Derbyshire market town of Glossop where he set up a pizza takeaway Yummies and began a new drug smuggling operation.
Police acting on a tip off kept watch on Yarasir and followed an HGV from Dover to a warehouse in Salford near Manchester where he was seen unloading the drugs hidden inside a cargo of tables.
Officers raided the premises and found 210kg of heroin in 420 half kilo blocks worth an estimated £63million.
The drugs had come from Istambul in Turkey and were due to be taken to Rhyl in North Wales, where the drugs would be prepared before being sold across the North of England.
Officers raided the premises and found 210kg of heroin in 420 half kilo blocks worth an estimated £63million
Yarasir was jailed for 25 years last April but details of his background emerged today after the last of his gang was jailed.
Prosecutors said he appeared to be involved in the purchase of a factory in Turkey worth £1m even though he claimed to be earning as little as £12,000 a year in the UK from 2011 to 2017. It is not known how he was able to settle in Britain.
Fikri Yarasir a Turkish crime lord (pictured following his arrest in Germany in the 1990s)
Detective Inspector Lee Griffin of Greater Manchester Police said: ‘The lengths this group went to to try and conceal the drugs, cover their tracks and evade police capture, would have been impressive had they not failed at simple hurdles like leaving fingerprints and traceable bank transfers.
‘Drugs, in particular heroin, have a detrimental effect on the communities that the majority of people work so hard to uphold and ruin the lives of those most vulnerable and their families.
‘We are constantly building a better picture of illicit activity and those who profess to be sophisticated criminals and will continue to do everything in our power to find those who attempt to make a profit from putting others in harm’s way.’
Police began their investigation named Operation Cartoon in October 2016 after surveillance officers observed a number of interactions between a group of criminals including a cash deal for the purchase of a fork lift truck.
Last August Yarasir was seen meeting an articulated lorry, with a Turkish registration plate, and leading it to the industrial unit where he and one of his takeaway employees were seen moving the cargo of furniture inside.
While the warehouse was unattended, officers entered the unit and found 42 tables in a side room with cellophane around them which looked ‘untidily and hurriedly stacked’.
They broke open each one they found a void between the top and underside, revealing 10 x 500 gram bags containing heroin. Forensic tests proved the heroin was of such high purity that it would yield a street value of around £63million.
Pictured: The drug storage unit at Salford where the heroin was seized by police officers
On the same day, officers entered a lockup in Rhyl and discovered equipment set up for a ‘bash house’ – a place where drugs can be diluted with other substances to increase value in onward supply. It included a hydraulic press for compressing drugs into bespoke fabricated moulds.
Enquiries revealed a business called ‘Freight Forward Ltd’ was set up to help the gang import the drugs into the UK – with the only customer being Yarasir.
Financial checks showed large amounts of money being paid to ‘Freight Forward Ltd’ over several months which was linked to Yarasir.
A couple were used as drug mules to transport money to Turkey on various occasions, a few days at a time, taking large amounts of cash with them and returning to the UK with significantly lighter luggage.
Officers worked out that the missing weight was the cash they were spending, which totalled around £372,500, all on behalf of Yarasir who was arrested at his takeaway.
Yarasir denied wrongdoing claiming he had been gaining ‘intelligence’ on his co-accused with the plan to become a police informant. He claimed he has been ‘exploited’ by his employee Ahmet Taskin and a Korean woman living in Spain, who he knew as a customer at his takeaway.
Yarasir denied wrongdoing claiming he had been gaining ‘intelligence’ on his co-accused with the plan to become a police informant
But he was convicted of conspiracy to import heroin and conspiracy to supply heroin after a two month trial.
Sentencing Judge Martin Walsh said Yarasir played a ‘leading role’ and was responsible for buying and selling the heroin and communicating with other members of the gang.
He added: ‘Those who seek to profit from the misery caused by greed and the callous disregard for the welfare of individuals and the society in which they live must expect to receive substantial sentences of imprisonment.’
‘There must have been others, including those at a high level, who remain undetected and who were involved in the carefully planned and executed scheme of importation.’
Brian Kennedy, 36, of Fife in Scotland, who was in charge of the logistics to bring the drugs into the UK was jailed for 18 years. Drug mules Paul Livesey, 46, and his partner Kathryn Fearon, 33, both of Gorton were jailed for 15 years and nine years respectively.
Ahmet Taskin, 45, of Glossop was jailed for 13 and a half years. David Mulligan, 27, of no fixed address was jailed for 17 years and Steven Hindley, 28, of Kinmel Bay, Rhyl was jailed for 15 years. All were convicted of drug offences.