Six on trial in Wales' largest heroin haul worth £5m

Five men and a woman are on trial over Wales' largest heroin seizure, where 40kg of the drug worth nearly £5m was recovered by police.

Cardiff Crown Court heard nearly 4kg of the Class A drug was found in a Newport taxi driven by Wasim Ali after it was stopped.

Jurors also heard more than £220,000 cash was found in Zawed Malik's car when he was stopped near Monmouth.

Both men along with four others deny conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Shazia Ahmad and Mr Ali, both from Newport, Umar Arif, Umar Butt and Khalid Yassen, all from Cardiff, and Mr Malik, from Dukinfield, Tameside, Greater Manchester, were watched by officers from Gwent and South Wales Police forces.

Cardiff Crown Court has been told how money was handed over at locations across Newport, including a Lidl car park.

Suitcase in boot

After his arrest at a service station near Monmouth, the court heard a police dog then searched Mr Malik's vehicle and loose banknotes worth "a couple of hundred pounds" were found in the glove compartment, and a small black suitcase with a "large quantity of bank notes" was discovered in the boot.

The jury has heard the cash amounted to £223,555.

The jury also heard details of surveillance carried out on other defendants.

A Newport taxi driven by Mr Ali was stopped near Tredegar Park by an unmarked police car, and was found to contain a blue bag with in the passenger footwell with 3.8kg (8.4lb) of heroin inside, the court was told.

The trial also heard how Shazia Ahmad transferred a "heavily laden carrier bag" from one car to her Mercedes vehicle parked in a disabled bay at a supermarket car park in the city. Police later discover the carrier bag contained £38,240 in bundles of notes.

Three other men from Cardiff - Umar Arif, Umar Butt and Khalid Yassen - are also on trial for the drugs offences.

The trial continues.