Drug dealer ordered to hand over money

Date published: 21 April 2012

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Mohammed Yaqoob

A man convicted of dealing Class A drugs in Rochdale has been ordered to pay back £129,733.99 of his illegal gains.

Mohammed Yaqoob, 48, of Yorkshire Street, Rochdale was convicted of conspiring to sell heroin and crack cocaine.

Yaqoob was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment at Bolton Crown Court on Friday 10 December 2010.

In the Rochdale area, drug users commonly contact a particular phone number, marketed by drug dealers, to place an order.

The person answering the phone will then contact the dealer who will meet up with the customer at a pre-arranged place.

The person with the phone does not actually come into contact with any drugs or customers, they simply arrange the distribution of them.

Yaqoob used the dealer name of 'Yak' and used this method to deal Class A drugs in the Rochdale area with Khan and Parker.

A large amount of telephone data was examined, which uncovered a number of text messages relating to the supply of drugs, many addressed to 'Yak'.

Search warrants were carried out at Yorkshire Street, Rochdale and a large amount of cocaine and heroin was seized.

Following his conviction, a financial investigator reviewed Yaqoob's dealings under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

The hearing took place at Bolton Crown Court on Friday 20 April 2012.

Yaqoob was ordered to repay the full amount within six months or would serve an additional two years and two months imprisonment.

Mr Yaqoob is to be deported to Pakistan at the end of his term of imprisonment

Detective Constable Claire Rawcliffe of Rochdale CID said: "This is just another example of how the legislation works and can benefit officers in their investigations into offenders' finances and recover, as much as possible, profit made from criminal activity."

Anyone with information on the sale of drugs in Rochdale should call police on 0161 872 5050 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Comments

11 years, £130k bill and deported back to Pakistan. Now that is a great punishment. Great work by the police and good sentencing by the judge.

What's the betting he doesn't go anywhere after his sentence?

My son would still be alive today but for the likes of him!
These people prey on the weak-willed and vulnerable.
I have suffered a life sentence with the loss of my son, so should he!

Nice work by the Old Bill and a nasty guy slammed up for a few years. What are the local community leaders and mosques doing to deal with these issue?

If people die through drugs it's their own fault. GPs should prescribe drugs; easy as that, you take drugs you can die.

That is one down in the area but how many were behind him ready to step up?

I can just see the 'human rights' issue here again. Not only do we have to feed and house him for years, we will be years trying to deport him. Simple way, hang them all dealing in drugs, then see how many do it!

I doubt he can afford to pay this amount back, how's he going to manage this whilst sitting in prison.
A father of 4, grandfather of 1; I would be ashamed if my father or the grandfather of my child sold drugs. He is a disgrace to Asian community, feeding drugs to vulnerable people. He should be hanged with the rest of the criminals. I understand Jeanie's pain, as I have lost someone because of drugs. I think he should get deported and sentenced in his own country. Shame on you and your family.

Jeanie, my heart goes out to you. We have had big drug problems in our family. This useless waste of space should be hung. This thing should be forced to take his drugs he supplies and overdose himself, then we don't have to pay for him in prison.