An intuitive street stop by West Midlands Police officers led them to uncover a cocaine and heroin stash valued at nearly £25,000 – and the jailing of a drug dealer.
Cops on patrol in the Tile Hill area of Coventry became suspicious when they spotted three men cruising the streets in a car just after midnight on 29 March.
The hunch proved well-founded as, having pulled the Volkswagen Passat over in Banner Lane, a strong smell of cannabis wafted from the vehicle.
A search of rear seat passenger Abdul Mahmood (pictured) revealed a bundle of cash topping £1,000 – and when officers later searched an address in Tile Hill linked to Mahmood they found rocks of heroin and crack cocaine hidden under a roll of carpet.
More drugs – this time with a street value of £18,000 – were also found secreted under the back seats of Mahmood’s BMW parked outside.
The 26-year-old admitted having the drugs but claimed to be holding them on behalf of an un-named associate.
West Midlands Police detectives challenged his story, though, and at Warwick Crown Court on Thursday (May 12) he was jailed for four years and eight months for possessing drugs with intent to supply.
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Bevis Johnson from Force CID, said: “The car stop that led to the arrest and conviction was good old fashioned police intuition…the officers acted on a hunch and it proved spot on.
“Mahmood told them he was unemployed which made the £1,000 cash find in a pocket of his tracksuit bottoms even more suspicious. It started a chain reaction of events that ultimately led to him being convicted of drug dealing.
“He initially tried claiming he lived elsewhere in Coventry but enquiries led us to an address in Tile Hill where the crack cocaine and heroin was uncovered.”
Officers searching that property also found a bundle of used notes totalling around £10,000 hidden down the back of a settee; the total value of the drugs seized was estimated at £23,950.
The conviction is the latest in a series of arrests under Operation Blue Steel – an offensive against organised crime in Coventry.
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