A MAN jailed for his role in running a massive narcotics network have failed to persuade top judges their convictions were "unsafe".

Asif Khan, 29, received the sentences after being found guilty of conspiracy to supply heroin following a Bradford Crown Court trial in July 2005.

Khan, of Colne Road, Burnley, received a 16-year term for the part he played in the scheme and, although Appeal Court judge, Lord Justice Hughes, cut his sentence to 14 years, he rejected his conviction challenge.

Yuksel Koc, 38 and Caspar Wiinblad, 27, also unsuccessfully bid to have their prosecutions quashed.

Wiinblad, a Danish national, had his eight- year sentence and conviction upheld by the court, while the three Appeal Court judges also confirmed Koc's conviction. Koc was given 16 years for his role.

The trio were tried as part of a wider prosecution stemming from an intensive surveilance operation carried out in the Summer of 2004, netting 10 kilos of heroin.

Father-of-four, Ibrar Ahmed, was jailed for six years and eight months for his part in the heroin trafficking scheme. Ahmed, 29, of Thornbury Drive, Thornbury, was stopped by police on the M62 in September 2004, with officers uncovering the ten-kilo haul.

Others involved in the network were also convicted and sentenced.

Koc and Wiinblad were foreign nationals who the prosecution said played a major part in the supply operation, while Asif Khan's lawyers said his 16-year term was excessively harsh given his lesser role in the "hierarchy".

He was described as being only a "regional dealer", rather than a key organiser of the network.

Khan, Koc and Wiinblad challenged their convictions on grounds that the prosecution failed to disclose potentially significant evidence relating to the interception of telephone calls.

But, after two days in court, Lord Justice Hughes - sitting with Mr Justice Underhill and Judge Michael Mettyear - rejected their conviction challenges.