A FORMER special constable from Blackburn is being held in India in connection with an alleged plot to smuggle heroin worth almost £1million into Britain.

PC Shabir Rehman Abdul Mubarak, formerly of Blackburn, was one of five men arrested in Bombay on Friday after they were allegedly found with a box containing 5kg of superior quality heroin worth about £950,000.

PC Mubarak, who was a special constable in Blackburn between May 1982 and July 1985, now lives in Lostock Hall. He is based at Bamber Bridge police station but has been off work sick since last September following a heart by-pass operation.

He serves in the southern division of Lancashire Constabulary, which covers Chorley, Leyland and Skelmersdale and is the holder of an Indian passport.

It is alleged he used his police warrant card to try to smuggle the drugs into the UK inside a Teacher's Whisky box and a suitcase with a false bottom and covered with dried fish to fool sniffer dogs.

Assistant chief constable of Lancashire Police Julia Hodgson said the force was liaising with the Foreign Office and Customs officials on the case.

She said: "We can confirm that the constabulary was notified early on Friday of the detention of a serving police officer by the Indian Narcotics Investigation Bureau at Bombay Airport. "We are aware that the individual arrested was in possession of a Lancashire Constabulary police warrant card and was named as Shabir Rehman Abdul Mubarak.

"It is not our policy to reveal personal details about serving members of the force."

A spokesman for Customs and Excise said he believed PC Mubarak was arrested as he was about to board a flight bound for Manchester.

"He is also secretary of the Black Police Officers Association and has been with the force for 14 years.

Former policeman Nazir Musa, of Plane Tree Road, Blackburn, said: "I knew Pc Mubarak when he used to live in the Audley area of Blackburn.

"He is married with two children and I always found him to be a genuine, decent guy.

"He suffered a heart attack last year and was visited by Chief Constable Pauline Clare after his heart by-pass operation."

Mr Musa, who was dismissed from the force after a disciplinary hearing, said: "He helped me a lot with problems I was having in my job.

"It is hard to believe that he would get involved in something like this. It would be most unlike him.

"But people do make silly decisions sometimes and we will have to see what happens out in India."

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