The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Dealer spared jail after supplying undercover cop with class A drugs
NOW 24, ALI WAS 18 WHEN HE COMMITTED THE OFFENCES
A dealer has been spared jail after supplying an undercover cop with class A drugs three times.
Fahad Ali, 24, provided an undercover police officer in Wallsend with crack cocaine and heroin during December 2018.
David Povall, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court how he initially supplied the female officer crack cocaine on December 11.
Two days later, the officer made an order for crack cocaine and heroin and Ali provided them.
Six days later, on December 19, the officer asked the defendant for the same two drugs and again he supplied them.
The court heard how Ali began delivering drugs to buyers after meeting someone at Byker Metro in Newcastle who got him involved in the supply of class A drugs.
Ali, of Simonside Avenue, Wallsend, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Tony Cornberg, defending Ali, said: “He was 18 when these offences were committed, he’s now 24.
“Six years is a long time in any event but for someone of that age it’s 25 per cent of his life. It’s a long time ago and a lot has happened since.”
He said Ali had spent the last six weeks working and he was now in a strong relationship with someone who has been keeping him on the straight and narrow.
He said: “He’s drug-free now, alcohol is an issue still. He describes himself as an opportunistic drinker. He drinks on the sly and doesn’t know when to stop.”
Mr Cornberg said he had spent the last few years worrying quite a lot, keeping his head down and being crime-free.
He said: “They have taken the decision not to think about a family until this case is over. She does seem to be a good influence on him.”
His barrister said he had given up his job as a labourer before coming to court but that it was still open to him to return to.
On Thursday afternoon, Judge Robert Adams sentenced him to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months.
He told him he must complete 41 rehabilitation activity requirement days, 150 hours of unpaid works and an alcohol treatment programme for 12 months.
Mr Povall told the court in Newcastle how Joel Rashidi (aka Taata), 30, and Francisco Mbozo, 29, were also caught suppling crack cocaine in Wallsend the same year.
In October 2018, Mbozo, then 24, supplied an undercover officer, via a third party, with a wrap of crack cocaine for £13. Around the same time, Rashidi was seen meeting up with a person who passed him a wrap of crack cocaine and did not dispute that he was going to share it with others.
The court heard how he was a crack cocaine user at the time and had purchased £20 worth of the drug to share with his partner and a friend, who were also both users and had contributed to the payment.
Mbozo, of Wingate Road, Walsall, West Midlands, admitted being concerned in supplying a controlled drug of class A.
Rashidi, of Nags Head Road, Enfield, London, entered a guilty plea to possession of a controlled drug of class A with intent to supply.
Joe Hedworth, defending Mbozo, told the court how he had been assisting a person, a fellow drug user, to obtain a quantity of crack cocaine. He said: “He obtained nothing from the transaction and thought he was doing that other person a favour.”
He said that until he was allowed to see the body cam footage he could not even remember meeting her and this was no doubt down to Mbozo’s “drug misuse”.
The court heard how Mbozo committed another offence of affray in September 2018, prior to the drug offence, and had served a 33 month custodial sentence.
Mr Hedworth said: “Since the commission of this offence and the affray offence he’s completely turned his life around.”
He said that he now works full time delivering cars and had successfully obtained a heavy goods vehicle licence as he wants to start a career as a long distance lorry driver. He said that he is also in a relationship and hopes to start a family.
However Judge Adams pointed out that Mbozo had told a probation officer that he only took cannabis.
Mr Hedworth told him he did not know what was going through his mind at the time and he is now in an entirely different place to where he was in 2018.
Chris Morrison, defending Rashidi told the court that he has a six-year-old daughter who he takes care of at the weekend and he is now living in a different area of the country. He said: “He’s removed himself from the area, from his previous associations.”
The judge sentenced Mbozo to 11 months in prison suspended for 18 months and ordered him to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Adams sentenced Rashidi to 13 months in prison suspended for 18 months.