A former Heathrow Airport security manager has been jailed for over 16 years after playing a key role in a £2 million cocaine smuggling operation from Colombia.

Junaed Dar, 47, of Randolph Road, Slough, was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on Monday, 4 August, following a major investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Dar arrived at Heathrow Airport several hours before his shift on 14 December 2019, using his position to help two drug couriers, Michael Williams, 39, and Jessica Waldron, 38, smuggle 22kg of cocaine through Terminal 2B.

The Class A drugs were hidden in the couple's checked baggage on a flight from Bogotá, Colombia.

However, thanks to a joint operation involving Colombian police and the NCA they were caught.

Officers in Bogotá had intercepted the bags before departure, removing the cocaine and replacing it with blocks of wood.

After landing, Williams and Waldron, both from Dudley in the West Midlands, were met by Dar, who escorted them to the toilets where he took possession of their bags.

(Left to right) Waldron & Williams on a plane (credit: NCA).

He was then arrested by waiting NCA officers as he attempted to leave with the luggage.

The couriers were detained by Border Force and later admitted attempting to import Class A drugs.

They were each sentenced to six years and eight months in 2022.

Dar was found guilty by a jury of attempting to smuggle Class A drugs and sentenced to 16-and-a-half years in prison.

Two other men, Ruford Davis, 55, of Pitfield Road, Dudley, and David Farquharson, 53, of Waterside Avenue, Wednesbury, were also convicted of their roles in organising the logistics of the drug run.

The pair used encrypted devices to send Waldron instructions on where to meet Dar and were each jailed for 14-and-a-half years.

(Left to right) Ruford Davis and David Farquharson (credit: NCA).

Mark Abbott, Operations Manager at the NCA, described Dar's actions as a "gross betrayal of trust", highlighting the role of corrupt insiders in facilitating international drug trafficking.

"Dar committed a gross betrayal of trust by playing a crucial role in this conspiracy which started in South America and would have ended with violent street gangs in UK towns and cities," said Abbott.

"Organised crime groups need corrupt insiders like Dar to help move illegal commodities.

"As an airport security manager, he had the access and ability to move drugs so they might not be stopped.

"Heathrow Airport fully supported the operation along with Border Force and together we continue to combat the threat of Class A drugs being smuggled this way."

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