Directors of a Bradford college were involved in a conspiracy to import heroin valued at more than £500,000, a court heard.

Husband and wife Mohammed Faisal and Patricia Malicka, who were said to be managing director and administration director of the Yorkshire College Ltd in Manningham Lane, Manningham, and Roohul Amin, listed as finance director, are accused of drug smuggling and money laundering.

Also accused are Faisal’s younger brother, Mohammed Alamgir, and Ali Iftikhar.

Prosecutor Peter Moulson told Bradford Crown Court some of the people involved with Yorkshire College were concerned in the importation of heroin from Pakistan.

The college was set up in November 2004 with the purpose appearing to be to assist overseas students to gain qualifications and college placements in England. Amin leased the Manningham Lane premises.

Mr Moulson said: “While some of that business may have been genuine, some of the people involved in it were responsible for the importation of heroin.”

He said almost 13kg of heroin, with a street value of nearly £650,000, was seized by the authorities.

He said the defendants, to a greater or lesser degree, ran facilities to try to ensure the safe receipt of heroin into the UK.

Addresses, and/or people were made available so the drug, secreted in parcels of clothing from Pakistan, could be received.

The enterprise ran from 2006 until the defendants’ arrest in June 2008, he told the jury.

He said parcels containing heroin from Pakistan were seized by British authorities at a Revenue and Customs and Parcel force depot in Coventry.

The drugs were removed and replaced with flour and water. Undercover police, posing as Parcelforce workers, then delivered some of the packages to relevant addresses in Bradford.

Faisal, 31, Malicka, 30, Alamgir, 25, all of Tyne Street, Wapping, Bradford, Amin, 35, of Raglan Terrace, Thornbury, Bradford, and Iftikhar, 39, of Thornbury Crescent, Thornbury, all plead not guilty to both charges.

The trial, expected to last four to five weeks, continues.