Walsall man jailed after £200k drugs found in wardrobe
A customer services manager who 'looked after' more than £200,000 worth of heroin and cocaine for a major drug ring has been jailed for five years.
Officers raided the home of Rameez Ajaib after finding his fingerprints on a £20,000 parcel of almost pure cocaine discovered among a £750,000 drugs haul recovered from a 'safe house' of the gang in Great Barr.
It was used to store heroin, crack and cocaine which was peddled on the streets of the Black Country. Drugs were also cut at the premises in preparation for 'onward transmission,' Mr Anthony Warner, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court.
The flat in Sandringham Court, Walsall Road, was raided by police on July 7 last year following a nine-month police operation that started with undercover officers being sold heroin in street deals in Caldmore.
Drugs were found hidden under beds and in a car parked outside.
Thirteen members of the gang received jail sentences ranging from 11 years to 18 months each for conspiracy to supply drugs earlier this year.
Police swooped on the home of Ajaib in Delves Road, Walsall, on November 17 after the three fingerprints found on the drug package had been confirmed as his.
The 28-year-old told officers to look in his bedroom where they discovered five kilos of cocaine, valued at up to £250,000 in street deals, at the bottom of a wardrobe along with £5,000 worth of heroin in two bags - one of which had been opened.
Ajaib admitted possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply between March and July 7 last year and on November 17.
He said he had been struggling to settle debts run up through gambling and paying for a trip by his wife to see her sick father in Pakistan.
The defendant claimed to have been paid £3,200 to look after both the drugs found at his home and the package discovered with his fingerprints on it at Sandringham Court for a 'few days' at a time.
This was dismissed by Judge Philip Parker QC who told him: "You had sufficient seniority to open a package of heroin with impunity.
"It may be you were not going to retail the drugs but you were, at the very least, storing them for substantial financial gain and not the mount of money you have mentioned. You were playing a significant role."
