Man jailed for drug dealing (From Worcester News)

Man jailed for drug dealing in Worcester

4:14pm Friday 18th January 2013 in News By Sarah Taylor

A MAN who supplied heroin and crack cocaine to Worcester drug dealers has been jailed for 16 years.

Mohammed Shabir, aged 40, of Fladbury Crescent, Birmingham, was arrested last year as part of Operation Dorado, an anti-drug initiative by West Mercia Police.

The drug dealer was wanted by police for his part in a conspiracy to deal heroin and crack cocaine in the city, but he had evaded them for six months.

He was arrested in Oldbury on November 23 after a search of an address he left in Tividale Road uncovered a .44 calibre Webley revolver, 43 rounds of live ammunition and between £5,000 and £6,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine concealed behind a skirting board in the hallway.

He appeared at Worcester Crown Court on November 29 and pleaded guilty to six offences in front of Judge Patrick Thomas, who sentenced Shabir today at Birmingham Crown Court.

Shabir was given five years each for two charges for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin between November 14, 2011 and January 21, 2012 in Worcester with Mohammed Ishaq, Gary Griffin, Leighton Bowkett, Michael Juson And Simon Sliwinski, all of whom were jailed at Worcester Crown Court in September 2012. These sentences are to be served concurrently.

Seven years each for possessing a prohibited firearm and possessing ammunition for a firearm without a certificate, to be served concurrently.
Four years each for two counts of possession with intent to supply a controlled Class A drug, crack cocaine and heroin, also to be served concurrently.

Shabir is the 27th person to be jailed as part of Operation Dorado, after 26 dealers from Worcester, Birmingham and the Black Country were sentenced in three days to a total of 81 years in September.

Detective Inspector Carl Moore, who led the operation, said: "Operation Dorado was a complex and longstanding investigation that was launched following concerns raised by residents in Worcester, in particular about street dealing.

"Although the issue of drugs is no more of a problem in Worcester than it is elsewhere in the country, the unlawful supply of controlled drugs by organised gangs has a real impact on all of our communities.

"This has culminated in the very strong sentencing of Shabir, which the judge made clear was because of the links in this case between drug dealing and firearms. The round recovered from Shabir's flat have been forensically linked to a number of serious crimes across the West Midlands and London.

"This included the incident during the riots of August 2011, when a police helicopter was shot at in Aston."