LEEDS, UK – A notorious Bradford crime lord has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering his own uncle, and masterminding the importation of five tonnes of Class A drugs into the UK.
Tahir Syed, 42, was handed a minimum sentence of 34 years by a judge at Leeds Crown Court on 13 June, following a five-week trial that exposed the full extent of his violent criminal empire.
Investigations by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and West Yorkshire Police revealed Syed ran a vast, multi-million-pound international drug trafficking operation and resorted to extreme violence to protect his position.
Five Tonnes of Class A Drugs
The court heard that between 2016 and 2021, Syed’s organised crime group smuggled over five tonnes of cocaine and heroin into the UK, hidden in frozen chicken shipments from the Netherlands. The drugs had a wholesale value of £125 million.
Much of the evidence came from Operation Venetic, the UK law enforcement response to the takedown of EncroChat, an encrypted communications platform used by criminals.
Using encrypted messages and undercover surveillance, investigators tracked Syed’s shipments, each as large as 200 kilograms, which were delivered to a Bradford warehouse he rented. The chicken used to disguise the drugs was discarded — sometimes left to rot inside the premises.
By mid-2019, police surveillance had Syed’s network under pressure. On 17 September 2019, officers observed his key lieutenant Yusuf Kara, 36, and associate Imran Khan Ashraf, also 36, moving suspicious bags in Bradford. Ashraf was arrested with £130,000 in cash, and a subsequent search of Kara’s home turned up 51 kilos of heroin.
Murder of His Uncle
Fearing exposure, Syed fled the UK two days later. But in November 2019, he briefly returned, believing his uncle, Asghar Badshah, had stolen money from him. He paid for Badshah to take a polygraph test, and when told his uncle had “failed,” Syed orchestrated a chilling plan for revenge.
On 29 November 2019, Syed, his associate Qaisar Shah, 40, and three men from Surrey kidnapped Badshah, 39, and transported him to a disused bank vault in Bradford.
There, they tortured him overnight, attempting to force a confession. A post-mortem later revealed 48 blunt-force injuries to his head, torso, and limbs. His body was found a month later, hidden behind a false wall, wrapped in cloth and concealed inside a shelving unit.
Shortly after the murder, Syed again fled the UK — this time using a false North Macedonian passport, moving through Albania, Kosovo, and Turkey, all while continuing to run his drug empire remotely.
Global Manhunt and Arrest
In August 2020, Dutch authorities intercepted one of Syed’s shipments — 155 kilos of cocaine — confirming that his network remained active even as he hid overseas.
After a global manhunt, Syed was arrested in Turkey on 11 November 2021. He resisted extradition for two years but was finally returned to the UK to face justice.
Justice Served
Nigel Coles, NCA senior investigating officer, said:
“Justice has now been served to one of Britain’s biggest crime bosses. We dismantled Syed’s operation from top to bottom. I hope his conviction offers some comfort to the family of Asghar Badshah.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Heather Whoriskey, West Yorkshire Police, added:
“Syed murdered his own uncle to protect his reputation as an international drug trafficker. Today’s sentence is the result of years of meticulous work. We thank Asghar Badshah’s family for their bravery and patience throughout this ordeal.”
