Drugs in West Yorkshire

How did British-Pakistani gangs come to dominate the drugs trade in Yorkshire?

Earlier this month, police shot dead 28-year-old Mohammed Yasser Yaqub on a motorway slip road near Huddersfield. Their target was apparently armed and dangerous – a big time drug dealer, allegedly with a record of using violence to get his way.

Yasser Yaqub’s death was followed by protests on the streets of Bradford and in nearby Huddersfield, hundreds turned up to a mosque for his funeral.

The drugs business in West Yorkshire is largely controlled by gangs of Pakistani-Muslim heritage, who use their community contacts to aid their criminal operations - but how does such a religiously conservative community contain within it such a dangerous criminal element?

David Aaronovitch heads to Dewsbury to find out.

CONTRIBUTORS

Tony Saggers, Head of Drugs Threat & Intelligence at the National Crime Agency

Danny Lockwood, editor of The Dewsbury Press

Mo Ali Qasim, who has spent four years doing academic research into Pakistani-origin drug dealers in West Yorkshire

Researcher: Samuel Bright
Editor: Innes Bowen