Bragging drug dealer behind bars for 7 years
MAN FLOODED TOWN WITH COCAINE AND HEROIN
A DRUG dealer clutching bundles of cash bragged that he should be called ‘money f***ing Rash.’
Rashid Hussain ran the ‘Sniper’ drugs line, flooding Rochdale with cocaine and heroin alongside his wife, Szenm Asghar. Police said the couple enjoyed a ‘luxurious lifestyle’ from peddling drugs.
Officers seized more than £20,000 in cash, designer clothes worth almost £18,000, and a number of Rolex watches from their marital home.
They were caught out as part of a GMP investigation into ‘turf wars’ between rival drugs gangs in Rochdale.
Hussain who was claiming benefits, was heard on voice notes recovered by police bragging about his income.
And they also discovered a video where Hussain can be seen with several huge bundles of cash. During an exchange with an unknown man, Hussain, in an apparent reference to the hugely successful Floyd Mayweather, a boxer who was once the world’s highest paid athlete, said: “They’ll call me money f***ing Rash won’t they, like money Mayweather.”
The married couple sat in the dock next to each other at Manchester Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced. Hussain, 35, admitted possessing criminal property, and two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.
Asghar, 37, pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group, two counts of possession of criminal property and two counts of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply.
Hussain was jailed for seven-and-ahalf years, and Asghar for three years and four months. Sentencing, Judge Nicholas Dean KC told them: “You Rashid Hussain are a long standing dealer in class A drugs, it seems to me for a period of approximately 15 years you have been engaged in dealing in heroin and cocaine as a business.
“You to a certain extent enjoyed a reasonable lifestyle as a consequence of your dealing in drugs.
“You Ms Asghar were the wife of Rashid Hussain, I accept that to a not insignificant extent you were influenced by your husband, but you knew the type of man he was.”
Police first raided their home in Bamford in December last year.
After the hearing, Detective Sergeant Gabe Gibson, of Rochdale’s Challenger Unit, said: “Hussain and his partner Asghar used the handle ‘Sniper’ to peddle their drugs across Rochdale. However, in this case, they shot themselves in the foot by leaving a wealth of evidence to be recovered.”
You enjoyed a reasonable lifestyle as a consequence of your dealing in drugs Judge Nicholas Dean