A 22-YEAR-OLD drug dealer threw a key for a safe containing packages of crack cocaine worth more than £4,500 out a bedroom window when police raided his house.
Khuram Shahzad, 22, of Tern Street in Canterbury, Bradford, was sentenced to two years in prison for seven offences of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and one count of possessing cannabis at Bradford Crown Court on Tuesday.
He pleaded guilty to all charges on May 20.
Two police officers on duty spotted Shahzad, on a bike, exchanging items with another man on Southfield Lane, Canterbury on March 25, 2020.
One of the officers approached Shahzad and he tried to cycle off but was detained.
There were some small bags of cannabis in his manbag and officers found cash and two mobile phones on Shahzad.
Shahzad was taken into custody and a number of drugs, including 1.48g of heroin, 2.75g of crack cocaine, 986mg of cocaine and 10g of cannabis, worth £416 in street value, and £132.35 cash, was seized from him.
Just under seven months later his house was raided by police.
Officers attended and saw a key being thrown from the back window of a bedroom in the property.
Police found a safe inside the room and also located the key that had been thrown.
The safe was searched and seized. It contained £4,815 in cash – which was uncounted at the time – 16 wraps of heroin (2.42g, with a street value of £160), one wrap of cocaine (129mg, no value given) and 61 wraps of crack cocaine (4.4g, £370).
There were also two packages of crack cocaine, which contained 46.9g of the class A drugs and had a street value in excess of £4,500.
Shahzad has no previous convictions and his defence lawyer said he has “changed and learned from the error of his ways” since the offences in 2020.
He added: “He was a young, different person than to what he is now. Then he was a man living a crazy lifestyle, a lifestyle driven by his use of cannabis.”
The house search “brought matters home to him” and he spoke to his mother about his lifestyle.
Shahzad is registered as his mum’s full-time carer. It was said Shazad was performing a limited function, applied by pressure.
Judge Gibson said: “There was a degree of immaturity at that time as well. You could have been facing a long sentence if the court wished to.”
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