Blackburn man jailed after being found with £8.5m worth of drugs

Labib Arshid also had over £800K in cash

Author: Nathan MarshPublished 16th Mar 2018

A Blackburn man's been jailed for 10 years and six months, after being found with a huge amount of drugs and cash.

Labib Arshid was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and, as a result, his home on Belthorn Road was raided.

Amphetamine worth over £8.5 million was discovered, as well as some cannabis resin and £841,000 in cash.

Arshid and his partner, Rebecca Sherwood were both charged with money laundering and possession with intent to supply a class B drug.

HMRC conducted the investigation into the money laundering and found that over £10m had been laundered.

Arshid, 44, pleaded guilty to possession of a Class B drug with intent to supply, and two counts of money laundering.

The charges against Sherwood, 31, were ordered to lie on the file.

DS Darren Irving, of East CID, said: “This was a major investigation which has resulted in a significant quantity of drugs being removed from circulation. I would like to thank our partners at HMRC for their co-operation in bringing Arshid before the courts and securing this conviction and sentence.”

Paul Maybury, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Tackling money laundering is a priority for HMRC and we will not hesitate to investigate those suspected of being involved. We ask anyone with information about this kind of activity to contact our HMRC Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.