A man caught trying to bring more than £650,000 of heroin hidden in the sleeves of cigarette packets through Leeds-Bradford Airport at Yeadon has been jailed for 16 years.

Mohammed Naveed, 36, was also linked in the conspiracy to separate arrests at Manchester Airport of two other men and further seizures of heroin worth more than £1.5m.

Prosecutor David Hall told Leeds Crown Court the total street value of the drugs seized was between £2.19m and £2.72m.

Mr Hall said Naveed was detained as he came through Leeds-Bradford Airport from a flight from Islamabad on June 27.

He had a shoulder bag containing the hidden heroin. When he realised he was going to be stopped he dumped the bag on a conveyor belt, but the luggage was spotted by airline staff who alerted Customs officers.

The court heard that Naveed had played a leading role in the conspiracy and had been involved in directing, organising and buying on a commercial scale.

Naveed, of Girlington, Bradford, had denied importing a class A drug and two charges of conspiracy to import heroin, but was convicted by a jury.

Sentencing him, Judge Guy Kearl QC told the married father-of-three he had lost his business and his reputation. The judge said: “People who import class A drugs in substantial quantities are playing for very high stakes – both in terms of the value of the drugs to them, and the consequences if they are caught.

“Class A drugs, in particular heroin, bring misery to those who become dependant upon them.”

Judge Kearl said Naveed was not a mere courier and, at the very least, had played an organising or managerial role.

He had close links to a source of the drugs in Pakistan and had used his business as a cover, allowing him to travel to Pakistan once or twice a month.

The court heard that co-conspirator Mohammed Siddique was arrested at Manchester Airport after arriving on a flight from Islamabad in January.

He had more than five kilograms of heroin hidden in cigarette packets. Siddique, 60, of Bradford, was jailed for five years and four months at Manchester Crown Court.

Another conspirator, Sharaz Khan, 21, of Barkerend, Bradford, was jailed for four years.