Three drug dealers whose £200,000 cocaine racket was rumbled by West Midlands Police have been jailed for more than 20 years.
One of the men was discovered with 1kg of cocaine in the waistband of his shorts following a swoop by West Midlands Police in Sutton Coldfield.
Officers intercepted the Class A drug exchange between Joshua Thomas and Rahim Uddin in Boldmere Road on 17 June last year.
Thomas got into a Ford Focus being driven by Uddin and then left the car just minutes later. He was stopped by officers who found the bag of cocaine with a street value of £200,000 while £40,080 in cash was on the back seat of the Focus.
An investigation showed a series of mobile phone messages − making reference to money, drugs and locations − between Uddin and another man Kobir Hussain starting last May.
Uddin, from Corporation Street in Wednesbury, told police he believed the parcel − which he collected from a man in Birmingham − was a car part and had no idea Hussain wanted him to collect drugs.
The 32-year-old denied a charge of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs but a jury dismissed his story and found him guilty following a trial; he was jailed for nine years at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday (4 April).
Hussain, 30, of Kendrick Street, Wednesbury, and Thomas, 26, of Boldmere Road, Sutton Coldfield, admitted the same charge. Hussain was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and Thomas was put behind bars for six years (pictured from left to right: Rahim Uddin, Kobir Hussain and Joshua Thomas).
Detective Inspector Darren Crutchley, from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: "Drugs are a scourge of our society and we are committed to catching those linked to the illicit trade.
"We continue to get dealers and drugs off our streets and these sentences give out a strong warning such crime will not be tolerated."
Anyone with information about drugs or other crime can call West Midlands Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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