A member of a gang which flooded Dorset with illicit drugs was caught with more than £75,000 in cash in his car.
Jubaer Ahmed was jailed alongside Belal Ahmed and Steven Waddington for a combined total of more than 20 years.
The prison terms came following a lengthy investigation by Dorset Police’s serious organised crime investigation team, and thanks to intelligence from the National Crime Agency.
The takedown of the encrypted EncroChat messaging service which the gang was using alongside support from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit helped snare the offenders.
Met Police officers found £75,000 in cash inside Jubaer Ahmed's car when they stopped him in London on June 15, 2020.
Belal Ahmed was arrested in the capital later the same day and a series of warrants were conducted at addresses in the Bournemouth area that were linked to the defendants.
At a property in West Cliff Road they found containers holding what were found to be class A drugs, mainly cocaine and ecstasy.
At another address in Alma Road, officers found more cocaine as well as cannabis.
Following further enquiries Waddington was arrested at his home in Bournemouth and six packets of cocaine were found in his bedroom.
Detectives seized a number of electronic devices that showed evidence of the drug supply operation the defendants were involved in, and the total estimated value of the drugs seized was around £40,000.
Jubaer Ahmed, 36 and of Talbot Avenue, Bournemouth, Belal Ahmed, 39 and of Ellesmere Road, London, and Waddington, 38 and of no fixed address in Bournemouth, appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court to be sentenced on Friday, July 7.
They previously admitted to charges of conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs, possessing class A drugs with intent to supply and using, acquiring or possessing criminal property.
Belal Ahmed also admitted an offence of possessing a class B drug with intent to supply.
Jubaer Ahmed was jailed for nine years, Belal Ahmed received a prison sentence of eight years and Steven Waddington was put behind bars for six years.
Detective Superintendent Andy Dilworth, Dorset Police’s director of intelligence, said: “Through our extensive investigation and by exposing the encrypting messaging system used by these defendants, we were able to disrupt a significant drug supply operation that was transporting drugs from London to deal in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area.
“We will continue to work with our national and regional partners to do all we can to make Dorset a hostile place for these drug supply networks to operate and to ensure those involved are identified and prosecuted.
“We continue to urge anyone with information relating to the supply of drugs in their communities to report it to Dorset Police either online at www.dorset.police.uk or by calling 101. If a crime is in progress, always dial 999.”
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