CABBIE ‘PRESSURED’ INTO DRUG DELIVERIES
Uber driver caught red-handed spared a prison sentence
TAXI driver Ghafar Hussain was pressured to store and deliver cocaine.
The 26-year-old was working as an Uber taxi driver when he began delivering the class A drug.
But police stopped his cab after watching what they believed to be a deal taking place.
Hussain was found with 63 individual grip seal bags of cocaine worth between £1,260 and £1,890, and more than £800 in cash. Officers then searched his home in Dryden Road, Cobridge, and found hundreds of cocaine deals in a safe, together with more than £11,000 cash.
Now Hussain has been sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, at Stoke-ontrent Crown Court, above.
Prosecutor Siobhan Collins said police were on unmarked patrol in Birch House Road, Crackley, at 10.05pm on October 2 when they spotted a teenager aged 17 or 18 leave a house and approach a Toyota Avensis Uber taxi.
Miss Collins said: “He got in the rear of the taxi and remained there for about 20 seconds. He then got out and walked back to where he had come from. As this was consistent with a drugs exchange having taken place, police indicated for it to stop.
“The defendant was the driver. He was detained and a search took place.”
Police recovered two iphones; £20 from the centre console; £40 from Hussain’s jacket; 63 individual grip seal bags of cocaine weighing 19.5 grams in total, worth between £1,260 and £1,890; £806.08 cash and two Nokia phones.
Officers went to his bedroom and found a safe. It contained a bag which had 83 bags of cocaine weighing 26.39 grams worth £1,660 to £2,490. There was a tube containing 82 bags of cocaine worth £1,640 to £2,460. A second tube had 60 bags of cocaine worth £1,200 to £1,800. There was also £8,000 cash, £3,345 cash and another mobile phone, taking the total number of phones seized to five.
One of the phones contained a message linking Hussain to the supply of cocaine. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply a class A drug.
His plea was on a basis he was pressured to collect and deliver the drugs by a man he had known for 12 months. He had no influence on those above him.
Balbir Singh, mitigating, said Hussain was of previous good character and was holding the drugs for someone else.
He said: “He was going to store the drugs for a while and hand over the money.”
He said Hussain is from a good, law-abiding family, but is naive and easily-led. “He was pressured into this,” said Mr Singh. “He was not selling on the streets.
“They were giving him money he was not working for to keep him on board. He is remorseful and unlikely to be in trouble again.
“He enjoyed his job as a taxi driver. He lost it straight away and he won’t get that back.”
As part of the suspended sentence, Hussain must complete a rehabilitation activity requirement for 15 days.
Judge David Fletcher said: “There are very few people involved in the dealing of class A substances who do not have their liberty taken away from them immediately.
“You told the police what it was that you had done. Yours was a limited function performed under direction. There was a degree of control over you.
“I believe there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
A Proceeds of Crime hearing to determine how much money Hussain must repay will be held in the New Year.