A drugs smuggler has been locked up for almost eight years after police foiled a cunning and original plot to hide pure heroin in picture frames imported from Pakistan.

Tariq Hussain was caught when drugs squad officers swooped on his car in Kensington Street, Girlington, Bradford, on June 14 last year and seized a package containing five paintings.

This latest elaborate method of concealing heroin follows previous incidents in Bradford where the drug has been concealed inside cricket balls and woven into oriental rugs.

Hussain, 32, of Hollings Terrace, Girlington, Bradford, was netted in a surveillance operation by West Yorkshire Police.

Judge Robert Bartfield, who sentenced him to seven years and nine months imprisonment, praised officers for uncovering “a highly-sophisticated operation and a very determined one.”

Hussain pleaded guilty to conspiring with others unknown to import heroin.

Prosecutor Margaret Taylor told Bradford Crown Court yesterday that a complex and intricate process had been used to impregnate the hardboard picture frames with almost a kilo of pure heroin.

The pictures were examined by forensic scientists and almost a kilo of 100 per cent pure heroin extracted.