An MP is praising the police officers who deprived a Guiseley drugs baron of his freedom and his fortune.

The town’s MP Stuart Andrew spoke out this week after a £10.5million confiscation order against Khalid Malik – the largest ever achieved by the special-crime squad which put him behind bars.

Now Mr Andrew is hoping the case will act as a warning to other criminals.

Malik, who is serving a 25-year-jail sentence for plotting to flood the Leeds and Bradford districts with heroin, faces a further ten years’ jail if he fails to pay the just over £10.5million of his ill-gotten gains.

The criminal mastermind and his gang were taken off the streets after an operation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

And this week their dedication was praised by Mr Andrew.

He stressed: “I am delighted that this man is being forced to pay back his ill-gotten gains so that when his sentence has ended he cannot enjoy a wealth that has been gained by the misery of others.

“This man’s drug ring being smashed in the way it has been is a credit to the actions and investigations of the police. They should be praised for ridding our streets of his drugs and his gang.

“I hope this sends a message loud and clear that tough action will be taken on like-minded individuals.”

A judge has given Malik three months to pay the money, which he had attempted to hide behind a “convoluted network of friends, family and corrupt professional advisors”. Judge Stephen Ashurst, sitting at York Crown Court, told him that if he failed to pay within the timescale he would serve a further ten years’ imprisonment.

Malik, a 38-year-old father-of-four, who ran Unique Car Care, in Leeds Road, Bradford, with his wife, Balkees Begum, was the mastermind behind a crime network which imported and distributed at least 300 kilograms of heroin. But his life of luxury on the back of other people’s misery came to an end in 2005 when he was jailed for 25 years for conspiracy to supply heroin.

Malik had used family members and corrupt business people to launder the proceeds of his crimes.

Among the 26 people imprisoned in addition to the drugs baron were his financial advisor who arranged fraudulent mortgages and held Malik’s cash in his own bank account, and a solicitor who allowed £593,000 of Malik’s drug money to be used to buy property in other people’s names.

Jail sentences totalling more than 200 years were handed out to the crime group.

Among those locked up were Malik’s wife Begum, 39, described as a “business partner” of her husband. She was jailed for ten years for money laundering and mortgage fraud.

Her sister, Shanaz Afzal, 30, of Ridge Close, Guiseley, received a four-year sentence for money laundering.

Malik’s trusted lieutenants, Davinder Singh, 39, of Ridings Croft, Bierley, Bradford, and Mohammed Reyaz Khan, were given 15 and 14-year sentences. Award-winning solicitor Shadab Khan, 38, of Staveley Road, Nab Wood, was jailed for four years for laundering Malik’s criminal money through the conveyancing of properties.

The confiscation hearing was told that more than £3.6 million of assets from Malik’s criminality had been identified by Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) investigators and placed under restraint.

These included a Lamborghini Gallardo, valued at more than £88,000, with a Mercedes Benz, two BMWs and a Volkswagen Golf.