A garage owner who helped to smuggle £37 million worth of heroin into the country in a specially adapted X-type Jaguar has been jailed . A quarter of a ton of the drug had been hidden in a series of secret compartments inside the battered old car - which had no ignition or electrics and could n't be driven - as it arrived at the port of Felixstowe on a container ship from Pakistan . Attique Sami , 44 , was the third member of a drug smuggling crime gang to be jailed over the plot when he received a sentence of 19 years yesterday . A garage owner who helped to smuggle £37 million worth of heroin into the country in a specially adapted X-type Jaguar has been jailed . Scans revealed that a quarter of a ton of the drug had been hidden in a series of secret compartments inside the battered old car - which had no ignition or electrics and could n't be driven - as it arrived at the port of Felixstowe on a container ship from Pakistan . Heroin was concealed in the bumpers , wheel arches , dashboard , central console , spare wheel compartment , engine and rear seating of the vehicle . Paperwork with the vehicle made out it had been shipped to the UK to be repaired . But investigators were able to find the drugs after the Jaguar was scanned with X-ray equipment , and its secret cargo was revealed . Attique Sami , 44 , was the third member of a drug smuggling crime gang to be jailed over the plot when he received a sentence of 19 years yesterday . Sami of Ilford was found guilty of conspiring to import and supply heroin following a trial at Luton Crown Court . His conviction follows the sentencing of two other men , Noman Qureshi , 32 , from Bradford , and Israr Khan , 35 , from Luton , in October last year . They were sentenced to 21 and 18 years respectively . The smugglers did not realise they were already under surveillance by a crack team from the National crime Agency soon after the container ship arrived at the port in Suffolk in December 2013 . On the evening of Friday 6 December 2013 , Qureshi drove from his home in Bradford , picked up Khan in Luton , and drove to a hotel in Ilford . Sami arrived in his Porsche 911 to meet with them to discuss where to unload the heroin from the car . The Jaguar , which had been shipped to the UK from Pakistan , was driven on the back of a low-loader to an address in Dagenham during the early hours of 7 December . Qureshi and Khan met it , but shortly after left the scene . They were arrested later that morning in Luton . The Jaguar was seized and examined by specialist Border Force search officers . They recovered 316 separate packages of heroin totalling 230 kilos . If cut and sold the drugs would have had a likely potential street value of £37.2 million . Sami was arrested in February 2014 . NCA investigators linked him to a phone that had regularly been used to contact Qureshi prior to the heroin importation . The Class A drug was packed into the boot ( pictured ) , dashboard , central console and spare wheel compartment . Even the car 's engine had been removed to make room for the lucrative haul . Black packages of heroin appear to be concealed inside the back seats , removed by police . Paperwork with the vehicle made out it had been shipped to the UK to be repaired . But investigators were able to find the drugs after the Jaguar was scanned with X-ray equipment , and its secret cargo was revealed . Jailed : Noman Qureshi of Bradford , West Yorkshire ( right ) , was jailed for 21 years and Israr Khan of Luton , Bedfordshire ( left ) was given an 18-year sentence . Police said they were part of an international crime group . National Crime Agency Branch Commander David Norris said : 'Sami played a crucial part in this conspiracy - his role would have been to recover the drugs concealed within the car . 'This group had international contacts and planned to import hundreds of kilos of high-purity heroin to the UK in what was a quite remarkable smuggling attempt . 'The car in which the drugs were hidden had virtually every spare bit of space filled with heroin . 'But they were unaware their moves were being monitored by NCA investigators , who prevented them from putting these harmful drugs on the streets . '
Attique Sami was third member of drug smuggling crime gang to be jailed . Heroin was concealed in the bumpers , wheel arches , dashboard , central console , spare wheel compartment , engine and rear seating of the vehicle . The battered old car had no ignition or electrics and could n't be driven . Paperwork with the vehicle said it had been shipped to Pakistan to be repaired . Jaguar was scanned with X-ray equipment , and secret cargo was revealed .