Drug dealing profits paid for £130k home and cars spree
A housing officer spent more than £130,000 of her family’s drug profits on a new home, lavish refurbishments and expensive cars, a court heard.
Sobia Jabeen put a £33,000 cash deposit down on her Great Barr home, spent £45,000 renovating and £55,000 on new cars.
The 32-year-old, whose husband and brother were jailed last year for 10 and eight years respectively for drug dealing, claimed the spending spree was funded by squirreling away savings from her £15,000-a-year housing officer job with Birmingham City Council.
But West Midlands Police’s financial investigators probed bank accounts and found large, persistent cash deposits.
She was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 50 days unpaid work when she appeared at Stafford Crown Court after being found guilty of money laundering.
West Midlands Police has confirmed that it will now commence Proceeds of Crime action in order to recover any assets believed to have been bought using ill-gotten gains.
Officers found cash payments totalling £37,000 had been paid into Jabeen’s account between 2005 and 2010 and she had savings in excess of £25,000.
Police said around £45,000 was spent on transforming her home in Amblecote Avenue, Great Barr.