'Cough up or stay inside', pushers told - court

4:03pm Thursday 20th March 2008

TWO jailed drug dealers have been told they must pay nearly £500,000 from the profits they made from their crimes.

The men, who were responsible for trafficking a major amount of heroin into Worcestershire, were jailed last year.

Tasib Latif, 35, from Birmingham, was told to pay £450,000 in the next six months after a court heard he had made £600,000 from his crimes. He will have to sell assets to pay the money.

David Geary, 45, also from Birmingham, must pay £28,000 after a judge decided he had made £276,696 from his criminal lifestyle.

Last year, Latif was jailed for 11 years and Geary for 10 years after the pair, along with co-defendent Rashid Khan, 30, from Birmingham, admitted class A drugs offences.

If the men fail to pay, their sentences will be extended with Latif facing the possibility of an extra four years and Geary an additional 15 months in prison.

The decision was made at a confiscation hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, March 13 and Friday, March, 14.

The men were brought to justice after an operation by officers from West Mercia Constabulary's Serious and Organised Crime Unit and the West Midlands Regional Crime Unit, which recovered more than 16 kilos of heroin, worth an estimated street value of £1.5m.

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