Vaccine centre drug dealer sent to jail
Ex-city university student admitted supplying cocaine and cannabis
Ex-university student admitted supplying cocaine and cannabis,
A SECURITY guard working at Covid-19 vaccination and testing centres has been jailed for dealing cocaine.
Former University of Portsmouth student Khaled Jaffer, 24 was spotted by police dealing on a street in the city.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard his friend Jimmy Wood, 22, was seen two days later leaving a house in Cleveland Road, Southsea, on March 20, 2019.
Officers raiding the home they shared found a large amount of the class B drug cannabis in vacuum-sealed bags and £900 in cash.
Jaffer made no comment when questioned by police but did hand over his PIN for his iPhone.
Analysts uncovered a message dating back to 2018 revealing Jaffer offering half an ounce of the class A drug cocaine for £550.
Jaffer claimed not to take it but in a message said: ‘The cats (customers) like it.’
He also advertised 1.5g of cocaine for sale at £100. ‘The main operation for me was selling cannabis,’ he told prosecutors.
Recorder Barry McElduff, the judge, agreed but said he could not spare him prison even though he is a young man, there were delays in the case and he was highly remorseful. He also accepted the same mitigation for Wood.
Imposing a 30-month term, the judge said: ‘Dealing in class A drugs even on a spasmodic basis is such that in almost every case the appropriate punishment will be one of immediate custody.
‘Sentences of deterrence are also needed.’
Jaffer, who had moved home to London in the nearly two years it took for the case to be concluded, was given a nine-month concurrent term for the cannabis.
Jaffer admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis and cocaine.
Jimmy Wood, 22, who admitted smoking up to 10 joints of cannabis a day before starting to supply his friends was handed a ninemonth term suspended for a year.
The nighttime warehouse worker must pay a £499 fine with 10 days’ rehabilitation activities. Wood admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
Barrister Laura Hollingbery said Wood, now of Ian Square, Enfield, London, ‘began buying in bulk and selling to friends’ while at the university.
Both men were charged in October last year, a year after all the evidence had been gathered.
Kaj Scarsbrook, mitigating for Jaffer - now of Ferme Park Road, Hornsey in London - said his client had rehabilitated himself since the police raid.
He said before Covid hit Jaffer was working as security at football matches and other places, but was put on flexi-furlough while working at vaccination and testing centres, and at train stations.
In almost every case the appropriate punishment will be immediate custody. Recorder Barry McElduff