Dealer told to repay £137,000
A DRUG dealer arrested after police found £100,000 hidden in a van under a false floor has been ordered to pay back some of his ill-gotten gains.
The van was pulled over in Bolton in October last year.
It was part of an operation that led to the seizure of three kilos of heroin worth around £3 million.
Imran Khan Ashraf, 31, who was driving the van, later pleaded guilty to money laundering and is now serving a 28-month prison sentence.
But his co-accused, drug dealer Yusuf Kara, was sentenced to 10 years, four months behind bars for conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering.
Police said he lived a ‘lavish lifestyle’ funded by crime.
He’s now been ordered to hand over almost £137,000 - all his assets - after a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at a crown court.
Kara, 30, has three months to pay - or face a further 16 months in prison.
He was arrested at his home on the same day Ashraf was stopped in Bolton.
When National Crime Agency officers searched Kara’s house they found 56 packages, each containing a kilo of heroin, with a street value of around £3 million, hidden in bags and a suitcase.
A judge at Leeds Crown Court was told he benefited from crime to the tune of more than £1 million.
The NCA were able to prove Kara’s recoverable assets, including cash, cars and designer clothing, only totalled £136,907.
The judge subsequently passed a confiscation order in that amount.
The ruling will also see Kara forfeit a Ford Focus and a Peugeot 207, which he had used to transport drugs, the NCA said.
He was arrested on Shearbridge Road, Bradford, on October 17, 2019.
The NCA said the court also found Ashraf, who is also from Bradford, had benefited from crime by £249,550 - and that he owned assets totalling £2,669.
In a statement, police said: “Ashraf was made subject of a confiscation order in the sum of £2,669.69, and a number of phones found in his possession, including an Encrochat handset, have been destroyed.”