Jailed: Driver claimed he 'had no idea' about heroin and crack found in car

He said he had borrowed the car from a friend that day.

But following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Kamal Ali was found guilty of possessing quantities of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply them.

Ali, aged 24, of St Pauls Road, Smethwick, was also convicted of possessing £1,520 of criminal property, which Judge Barry Berlin has now ordered to be forfeited.

Ali was jailed for four years and four months at Warwick Crown Court, where Judge Berlin is now sitting.

Prosecutor Simon Hunka said that on the afternoon of October 9, 2019, officers in the Birchills area of Walsall saw a VW Golf which was travelling too fast.

But when they indicated for the driver, Ali, to pull over, he accelerated away and the officers gave chase for a few streets before he came up behind stationary traffic.

When Ali had to stop, the officers blocked him in and he was arrested.

On him he had a man bag containing six wraps of heroin and one of crack cocaine, £240 in cash and two ‘burner’ phones.

The officers then searched the car and found 15 wraps of crack and 14 of heroin in the central console, as well as £280 in cash in the driver’s door pocket and another £1,000 in the glove box.

Mr Hunka said the car itself had been rented for a week by another person, and Ali, who had a conviction for robbery when he was a youth, was not insured to drive it.

Ali made no comment when he was interviewed, but during his trial he said the drugs in the man bag were for his personal use and denied knowing anything about the other drugs or the cash in the car, a vehicle which he said he had borrowed from a friend that day.

Having handed in references, Simon Williams, defending, said: “It is clearly obvious Mr Ali is regarded as someone who is hard working.

“This offence, which was committed some 18 month ago, was completely out of character. It is unfortunate he finds himself in this position.

“At the time he was a person who took class A drugs, but now at the time of sentence he is drug free.”

Mr Williams said Ali had had to give up work two years ago in order to care for his mother, who suffers from health problems, and also for his brother, who has mental health issues.

Ali’s father works and his siblings “are not in a position to come and help his mother” so an immediate prison sentence would be “quite catastrophic for the family”, said Mr Williams, who was arguing for a suspended sentence.

However, Judge Berlin jailed Ali, saying there were “aggravating features”.

Judge Berlin told Ali: “There are aggravating features here – over £1,500 in cash, no doubt the proceeds of drug dealing, and you tried to get away from the police.

“You must have been a carer for your mother and brother when you were out drug dealing, and anyone who goes out dealing in class A drugs must expect an immediate custodial sentence.”

Judge Berlin added: “I am asked to reduce the sentence to one which could be suspended, but that is utterly impossible.”