Drugs gang flooded city with cocaine
FOUR Derby men brought vast quantities of high-purity cocaine to sell to users in the city.
Eight kilos of the class A drug were found at “warehouseman” Michael Ward’s Chellaston garage when police raided it earlier this year.
Derby Crown Court heard how the furloughed salesman allowed kingpin Ajmal Hussain, who drove flashy cars and wore designer clothes and watches, to store his drugs there.
Hussain and co-defendant Jameel Hussain used encrypted phones to organise the purchase of vast amounts of cocaine from “high-level movers” around the UK.
Over a year, the latter bought more than 40kg of the powder for £1.5 million, renting out three different flats in the city as “stash houses”.
For 28 months, the fourth gang member, Kamar Adris, worked as a runner for Jameel Hussain delivering to one regular user. And when each was arrested, hundreds of thousands of pounds were seized from them or addresses linked to them.
Jailing the group for a combined 27 and a half years, Judge Jonathan Bennett said: “Ajmal Hussain and Jameel Hussain, you conspired together with others to acquire, supply and sell many kilograms of cocaine.
“Each of you was involved in a large-scale, sophisticated, drug dealing operation in the city of Derby over a long period of time.
“Both of you clearly had a high ranking role in the upper echelons of the drug dealing fraternity and were trusted by others in similar high roles in this world.
“Kamar Adris, you were involved in a sub-conspiracy and, Michael Ward, you were a warehouser for Ajmal Hussain allowing your home to be used for the storage of cocaine.”
Kevin Barry, prosecuting, outlined each of the quartet’s involvement in the conspiracy. He said Ajmal Hussain used the encrypted phones from his then home in Pybus Street “to buy multiple kilo consignments” of cocaine from “upstream suppliers” in Birmingham, Oxford and the North West.
Mr Barry said: “One handover saw him buy 4kg at £38,000 per kilo in Mickleover. At the beginning of the conspiracy, in March 2020, he bought 6kg of cocaine, paying £195,000.
“When police went to Ward’s stash house in March, he was out but he alerted Ajmal Hussain as he saw the police on his video doorbell.
“Ajmal then placed £111,000 in a box and gave it to his partner, who drove off with a child in the car and she was arrested minutes later. Ajmal fled out the door and was arrested the following day in Sheffield.”
Mr Barry said between March and May 2020, Jameel Hussain bought 5kg of cocaine from Ajmal Hussain, paying £190,000, to sell it on. He said: “Ajmal was his local, Derbybased
supplier but he was also supplied by other wholesalers.
“He was often purchasing 1kg a week and was clearly a trusted customer of these wholesalers. Over nine months he received
9kg, paying out £344,000 – 5kg of which was from Ajmal.
“An estimate of what he purchased during the 12-month period was 40.5kg at a cost of £1.5m.
“He purchased BMWs, an Audi, purchased designer clothes and jewellery, including Cartier, and went on expensive holidays to Dubai.
“This was his own show, there was no Mr X he was working for.”
Mr Barry said Jameel Hussian used Adris, of Normanton, to regularly deliver 3g per week to a customer, whose name was revealed in court. He said the cocaine would be left in a plant pot next to the front door of the man, who built up a drug debt running into thousands.
Mr Barry said: “He was a part-time minicab driver who accepted he made 23 separate trips to the regular user.”
He said Ward agreed to permit Ajmal Hussain to regularly store large quantities of cocaine in his garage for nine months between June 2020 and March of this year.
An initial 5kg were seized on March 2 of this year and a further 3kg later the same month on a second visit while the defendant was in custody.
Mr Barry said: “Ward acted as a warehouser of the drug. His ex-partner told police that from June 2020 Ajmal would visit most days and
Ward told her he was fetching tools. “He told a different, later, ex-partner he had been storing drugs for someone else for extra money as he had been furloughed from his job as a sales representative for a firm that sells vending machines.”
As well as Ward’s house, the rented stash flats were in Spring Street, Brough Street and Arundel Street, all in Derby.
All four defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Ajmal Hussain, 30, of Strutt Street, Derby, was jailed for 12 and a half years. Dan Taylor, his barrister, said: “He has a long-term partner who is now eight months pregnant with his second child. The inevitable prison sentence will see him miss out.”
Jameel Hussain, 32, of Clarence Road, was jailed for nine years. Mandisa Knights, mitigating, said: “He had ambitions in younger life to live a virtuous life and ended up living a parallel life, doing community work with a lifestyle in the drug trade.”
Adris, 32, of Dairy House Road, was jailed for two years. Andrew Alty, his barrister, said: “My client was involved in a sub-conspiracy to the main conspiracy. To use a football analogy, the main conspiracy was Champions League, my client was more Lancashire Combination league.
“This was to one confirmed user of cocaine, not numerous users, and
its total weight was 69g. There was no lavish lifestyle. He has three young children, aged seven, five and two, who won’t see their father for some considerable time.”
And Ward, aged 47, of School Lane, was jailed for four years. Darron Whitehead, mitigating, said: “He was not involved in sourcing, preparation, or distribution of the drugs.
“In the months before he allowed his friend to store items in his garage, his life fell apart. He was left with his son at home alone and difficulties with work. His judgement fell well short of the man before his offending.”
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing, where three of the defendants could have assets seized to pay for their illgotten gains, was set for February 25, 2022.
This was a large-scale, sophisticated, drug dealing operation in Derby over a long time
Judge Jonathan Bennett
DOCTORS were left baffled when a Derby teenager contracted a condition with no apparent cause.
Tejal Paliya, 17, a student from Littleover, first became ill in March after suffering from a fever and shivers.
Her symptoms eased slightly before she became dizzy and fainted a few days later.
Unable to get a local GP appointment, Tejal had to travel 20 miles to be seen by a doctor, who admitted her to A&E.
There, blood tests confirmed that Tejal had contracted sepsis.
She said: “I was shocked to hear that I was diagnosed with such a life-threatening illness.
“I was doing just fine and was fit and healthy – the diagnosis was like a bad dream come true.”
Upon diagnosis, Tejal’s condition grew worse and she was placed into an induced coma for five days. She stayed in hospital for 51 days while her condition was treated.
She added: “I was in the ICU for 12 days and treated with medications to boost my blood pressure, with antibiotics to treat the bacteria. I then spent the next 39 days in a ward for recovery and further observation. I didn’t know much about sepsis, but from the little I knew, it was hard to accept it.”
Sepsis is usually the immune system’s overreaction to an infection in the body, which often leads to the body damaging organs and tissue. But Tejal did not suffer from any type of infection beforehand, which confused doctors.
She added: “I had no previous infections. The doctors tried to find the source but they couldn’t trace it. So in my discharge letter, my cause is written as “mysterious”.
“But the doctors took my case seriously from the beginning, which allowed a quick diagnosis and recovery. The nurses took care of me with love and respect and the caterers were very kind, too.”
Data from Sepsis Research Feat shows that each year, 50,000 people lose their lives to sepsis in the UK. The biological reasons behind the cause of sepsis are not understood, meaning more research is needed.
Tejal’s diagnosis prevented her from attending school in the lead up to her A-level exams but she was able to organise with her teachers to sit them from the ward.
She added: “During early May, my condition was much better and I wanted to sit my exams because I was confident about my preparation.
“I did miss going to school, but I knew that studies would take my mind off the hospital environment. With the help of my school, Littleover Community School, and the medical staff I was able to sit the exams in the hospital.”
Now, Tejal’s condition has improved. She still regularly visits vascular doctors to monitor her condition, while continuing to study for her exams and preparing for university.
I was fit and healthy – the diagnosis was like a bad dream come true.
Tejal Paliya