A 32-year old non-resident Indian lawyer has been sentenced to 14.5 years of imprisonment for helping a criminal gang in London [Images], which is believed to have made millions of pounds selling heroin and used firearms.

Criminal solicitor Naveen Sagar represented key members of a west London criminal that sold heroin and used firearms, police said.

The Kingston [Images] Crown Court sentenced the lawyer from Wembly to 14.5 years in prison for his corrupt practices. Sagar, who worked at Mehra and Co, was found responsible for concerted efforts by the gang to evade a successful police investigation, police said.

He also admitted trying to pervert the course of justice as well as two counts of fraud.

His corrupt practices included an elaborate plan to try to portray the police falsely as corrupt by recording and editing conversations, the court heard. Sagar also arranged false alibis and defences, supplied bogus witnesses and regularly tipped off gang members of police activities.

Judge Fergus Mitchell said: "The public on the whole trust solicitors as do others in professional positions such as other lawyers and police. You undoubtedly contributed to a reduction in that confidence."
 
After his arrest in February last year, a search of the home he shared with his parents revealed �75,000 under a bed.

Sagar became linked with the gang in March 2003 after meeting its linchpin, 29-year-old Ahmed Osman Hersi. Hersi arrived in the UK as a Somali asylum seeker in 1985, and had served a jail sentence for car jacking.

Police said his network primarily operated from the Southall area, but during their investigations they seized drugs and guns in Hackney, Leicester Square, and Shepherds Bush.

The Metropolitan Police formed a task force called Operation Pauldings in late 2004 to target the network run by Hersi but as the investigation continued the involvement of Sagar became increasingly apparent.

Sagar represented many of the individuals arrested by the police and as the investigation reached a crucial juncture he instigated an elaborate plan. He constructed elaborate delaying tactics so that he could direct attempts to undermine the police investigation.

Ultimately the attempts by Sagar failed, and Hersi's gang and those from a Hackney gang have all been convicted.

Officers will now be seeking to use the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover assets worth about �1 million from Sagar, while inquiries into the finances of others continue. Mehra & Co has now closed and ceased trading.

Ahmed Hersi will be sentenced at Kingstone Crown Court on Thursday, while seven men have already been sentenced. The operation has resulted in 35 arrests, 9 convictions and recovery of 4 kilos of heroin, 280 rocks of crack cocaine, two Mac10 machine pistols, five semi-automatic handguns, one Brocock revolver, ammunition and �300,000 in cash.