Noisy engine led to dealer’s arrest
A DERBY drug dealer was snared when the loud engine in his car attracted the attention of the police.
Officers hearing the noise became suspicious and approached Nathan Kiasala’s vehicle and searched it.
They found a small quantity of the class B substance and then more when they searched his Wolfa Street address.
Derby Crown Court heard how just 10 days earlier the 24-year-old had been caught with more cannabis and a knife as he tried to reverse his car up the M1 near Luton.
And in 2017 he, his brother and a third man were jailed after four people were hospitalised following violent disorder at Luton Carnival.
Handing the defendant a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, Judge Shaun Smith QC said: “In 2017, you got yourself involved in violence, were sent away and completed that.
“For some reason you then got yourself involved in the drugs world and you took a pretty steep fall.
“You were first driving around with a bit of personal in your car and then 10 days later you were out dealing cannabis in an area of this city well known for drugs.
“However I have read a lot about you and since then you have got yourself not one but two jobs and enrolled at university.
“You’ve got a chance now provided you can behave.”
Hal Ewing, prosecuting, said the first offence took place on the M1 near Luton on January 1.
He said police spotted Kiasala reversing his car, stopped it and found the drugs and knife.
Mr Ewing said after being bailed for that, on January 11, he was offending in Derby.
He said: “Plain-clothed police were in Wolfa Street and noticed a car being driven by this defendant because of its loud engine.
“They checked the PNC (police national computer) and saw the car’s keeper, this defendant, had been arrested a few days earlier in Luton.
“The area is a known hot spot for drugs so they approached the car and searched it.”
Mr Ewing said they found a small amount of cannabis and then searched his home. where more drugs, digital scales and dealer bags were discovered.
He said messages on phones seized from the defendant showed he had been selling the class B substance.
Kiasala, formerly of Styles Close, Luton, and who was supported in court by his parents, pleaded guilty to charges of supplying cannabis, possessing cannabis and possessing a knife.
As part of his suspended sentence he was ordered to carry out 180 hours’ unpaid work and attend 25 rehabilitation sessions with the probation service.
Jack Jennett, his barrister, said: “In relation to the knife, it was found in his car as part of his belongings as he was moving back to university.
“Since his arrest, he has spent some 219 days on a tagged curfew.”