Shah, Hussain

Hussain Shah was convicted in November 1997 of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of a Class A controlled drug (heroin). Mr Shah received a sentence of four years’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in June 1998.

The CCRC closed the case in October 1998 because there had been no appeal against conviction and there was no evidence (at the time) of any exceptional circumstances.

Following an internal review of Her Majesty’s Customs & Excise (HMCE) and an inquiry into West Midlands Police, the case was reopened in June 2000.

The prosecution had resulted from a “controlled delivery” (CD) operation. In these operations, HMCE targeted importers of heroin to the UK by using Pakistani informants who participated in the offences as couriers.

In this case, a “participating informant” (PI) worked with HMCE and took part in the operation, receiving a monetary reward.

The CCRC considered that in terms of its CD operations from Pakistan to the UK, HMCE acted in a way which was not conducive to maintaining the integrity of the criminal justice system.

From their inception in the 1980s, the operations were structured and conducted in such a way that, particularly having regard to the apparent lack of control exercised over informants, the risk of informants manipulating the system was real and identifiable.

Some informants were actively engaging in planning and committing crimes and were playing more than a minor role (in some cases with the knowledge and/or assistance of HMCE officers).

Consequently, HMCE’s operations had the effect of creating and sustaining heroin related crime.

In this case, the CCRC identified a number of “anomalies” in the operation, including evidence that HMCE had failed to properly supervise and control the PI in accordance with internal and Home Office Guidance.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that there was a real possibility the Court of Appeal would find Mr Shah’s conviction unsafe on the grounds of abuse of process.

In addition, the CCRC considered that there was a real possibility the court would find Mr Shah could not be guilty of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of heroin because the importation occurred entirely separately to and before his involvement.

The CCRC referred the conviction in September 2004.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in July 2005.