Dealer hid drugs in Virgin boxes (From Halesowen News)

Dealer hid drugs in Virgin boxes

10:31am Tuesday 16th October 2012 in News

A DRUG dealer who worked for Virgin Media hid heroin in the large green battery boxes owned by the company throughout the Dudley borough, a court heard.

Sajid Hussain was an engineer for the firm and was part of a gang of drug dealers from Dudley and Halesowen which was busted in an undercover police operation called Dragon.

Its members were jailed for a total of 14 and a half years at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The court heard a police surveillance squad followed 40-year-old Hussain and saw him pull up alongside a row of the battery boxes in Angel Street, Dudley.

Paul Reid prosecuting said the officers swooped and found Hussain had three bags containing £2k of heroin, mixing agents and a set of scales.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court Hussain also had a a knuckleduster, four mobiles and keys to the roadside boxes inside his Virgin van while more heroin was found hidden inside his locker at work.

Mr Reid said: "Hussain was employed by Virgin Media who have numerous large road side battery boxes.

"He had access to these through his job and he was using them to store quantities of drugs and avoid detection."

Mr Reid said Hussain was seen visiting the Dudley address where Mohammed Iqbal lived and when police raided that property four days later they recovered heroin from the same batch, three mobiles and an identical set of scales.

The court heard police stopped a car in Engine Lane, Brierley Hill, that was being driven by Hussain's 27-year-old brother Sharoon Qurban and his passengers included Mohammed Iqbal and Faisal Farooq.

Officers found 25 wraps of heroin and cocaine together with a separate packet containing £470 worth of cocaine in the vehicle.

Hussain, of Aston Road, Dudley, admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply and having an offensive weapon and was jailed for three years.

Mohammed Iqbal, aged 21, of Bunns Lane, Dudley, admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply and wounding in an unconnected incident and was sent to prison for four and a half years.

Qurban, of Richmond Road, Dudley, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine and was jailed for three years.

Farooq, aged 20, of Mogul Lane, Halesowen, pleaded guilty to possessing heroin with intent to supply and an unrelated wounding and was jailed for four years.