Justice catches up with drugs gang
THREE men have been convicted of taking part in a heroin and crack cocaine supply operation in Accrington.
Amar Ahmed, John Nicholson and Paul Freeman were caught after being spotted driving around Accrington by police.
Burnley Crown Court heard they drove off ‘ignoring efforts by police for them to stop’ and ‘pulled out into a junction without stopping’.
Sara Dodd, prosecuting, said passenger Freeman got out of the car but was seen hiding behind another car on Higher Antley Street.
The police were unable to chase after him but he was later found again on Richmond Hill Street.
Miss Dodd said officers also found Ahmed in the car with the engine still running and driver Nicholson was ‘seen emerging from a nearby house’.
Inside the car they seized a number of items including an ‘improvised pipe’, cash and mobile phones from the glove box and central compartment.
Miss Dodd said that Freeman ‘began to cry’ when officers found him with a snap seal bag of drugs in one hand and a mobile phone in the other.
She told the court how he claimed they ‘didn’t belong to him and had been thrown at him’.
Miss Dodd said police also recovered a snap bag of cannabis, Samsung phone, Kinder Egg and two cannabis grinders.
When Freeman was further searched at the police station they found £818 worth of cocaine and another £220 of heroin.
Amar Ahmed, 25, of Higher Antley Street, Accrington, and Paul Freeman, 22, of Laithe Street, Burnley, both pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin and possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.
Ahmed was remanded into custody until a sentencing hearing on September 5.
However, Judge Bever- ley Lunt warned him: “It’s going to be a custodial sentence, you know that and you are serving it now which is how you should look upon it.”
John Nicholson, 31, of Edleston Street, Accrington pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin and careless driving.
He was given a 12-month community order with drug and rehabilitation activity requirements after serving over six months on remand.
Freeman was jailed for 30 months.