Mum jailed for using children to smuggle cocaine

A mother from Bradford who used her children to smuggle £14.4m worth of cocaine into the UK from Mexico has been jailed.

Farzana Kauser, 54, of Waterlily Road in Manningham, was jailed for 13 years and four months at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, after admitting importing 180kg of cocaine in May.

She was arrested while collecting her four sons, daughter and daughter-in-law from Birmingham Airport on 11 November 2024 as they returned from Cancun with suitcases loaded full of drugs.

Rick Mackenzie, National Crime Agency (NCA) senior investigating officer, said Kauser was "very well practised in her life as a high-end cocaine trafficker".

He said: "To her friends and people who thought they knew her, Farzana Kauser was a thoughtful, loving mum who seemed very normal.

"She took great pains to delete any trail of evidence.

"She pushed her children into huge danger and has allowed their futures to be effectively destroyed."

He added her youngest son was aged just 17 when he was "encouraged to play a major role in couriering drugs into the country".

Kauser had worked with an unidentified accomplice in Pakistan, who was known as "Uncle", to help with the smuggling of cocaine from Cancun to the UK.

She claimed she was only there to collect her children when they arrived at the airport with 180kg of cocaine that had a street value of around £14.4m.

Some of the drugs were due to be handed over to a courier, while the rest were set to be taken back to Kauser's home and moved on from there.

The NCA also discovered that it had been the fifth time the group had couriered cocaine into Birmingham Airport between August and November 2024.

They had booked short one or two-night trips to Amsterdam or Dublin and travelled without any luggage, but then timed their return flights to Birmingham at the same time as arrivals from Cancun – where there was an insider bringing suitcases full of drugs.

The group then headed to the Cancun baggage carousel after landing to collect the suitcases and the family would then walk through customs as though returning with their own bags.

Her four eldest children admitted their roles in the conspiracy, while her youngest son and daughter-in-law pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group.

• Umair Mohammed, 22, of Waterlily Road, Bradford, was jailed for eight years and one month
• Junaid Shaffaq, 33, of Waterlily Road, Bradford, was jailed for 10 years and nine months
• Mohammed Shaffaq, 28, of Waterlily Road, Bradford, was jailed for eight years and nine months
• Safa Noor, 20, of Waterlily Road, Bradford, was jailed for seven years and two months
• Sarah Hussain, 28, of Hollybank Road, Bradford, was given a two-year suspended sentence
• Hamza Shaffaq, 18, of Waterlily Road, Bradford, will be sentenced on 7 October.