A drug dealer who enjoyed four holidays in four months from the proceeds of his crimes returned from a trip to Turkey to be greeted by police at the airport.
As Shazad Miah sunned himself on a privately chartered boat and sent boastful photos to one of his runners in the UK, detectives were building a case against him, Essex Police said.
And Miah, of Ashingdon Road, Rochford, was arrested when he returned from Turkey to Luton Airport on June 4 last year.
Miah, who had a drug line phone with him when he was arrested, had been involved in supplying crack cocaine and heroin in Southend.
He was sentenced to nine years in prison after a trial at Basildon Crown Court.
Police said the “Frankie” drug line used 10 different mobile numbers to send out messages advertising the sale of Class A drugs.
Miah held the drug line phones between February and June 2023, with up to five runners working under him on any given day.
During his time running the drug line, and without any other plausible source of income, he splashed out on four expensive holidays.
Fake business account funded holidays
They were paid for from a business bank account and personal accounts, set up under the name of a fake car hire business.
Using these accounts, he took in more than £30,000 in criminal profit, police said.
The day before his arrest, Miah was on a privately chartered boat in Turkey. But he was unaware that officers had caught him on CCTV at a shop buying a sim card for one of the drug line phones.
Police raided his home on the day of his arrest, seizing evidence including more than £3,000 cash from a safe found at the property.
Officers also found a passport belonging to one of Miah’s suspected runners stowed inside the safe.
Miah had previously been convicted for drug dealing in 2013 and again in 2020, when he was jailed for 36 months.
Police believe an estimated 2.295kg of Class A drugs were supplied during Miah’s running of the “Frankie” line, valued at around £191,000.
Det Sgt Rob Maile said: “Miah filtered in excess of £30,000 through various bank accounts, money we know was a result of Class A drug dealing.
“He was distanced from the harsh reality of crack cocaine and heroin use, which brings associated anti-social behaviour impacting our communities and having a disastrous impact on the lives of those addicted to these substances.
“Instead, he used the profits of this drug line to fund holidays to Paris, Menorca, Amsterdam and Turkey – all within a four-month period.”
Officers are pursuing a Serious Crime Prevention Order against Miah, and are seeking to claw back his criminal gains under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
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