A high-flying IT consultant who lost everything after becoming addicted to cocaine has been jailed for five years for transporting, storing and mixing almost £1 million of Class A drugs.
Javid Iqbal, 42, had a wife and a highly-paid job in the City of London but lost both when his recreational drugs use escalated and he ran up a £10,000 debt to dealers, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.
When police raided his home in Killinghall Road, Undercliffe, Bradford, on August 21 they found almost £170,000 of cocaine, a stash of cannabis, scales and a mixing bowl, prosecutor Howard Shaw said.
Iqbal was linked by his fingerprints to 12 blocks of heroin, weighing almost eight kilos and with a street value of up to £788,000, that was seized by police from a car stopped on the A650 in Drighlington on March 3.
The driver, Zak Kennedy, 21, of Scunthorpe, was jailed for five and a half years in May after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
Mr Howard said the heroin was twice the purity of that cut into deals for sale in West Yorkshire.
When police searched Iqbal’s home, they found more than a kilo of cocaine, with a 78 per cent purity, and a blue suitcase containing 950 grammes of cannabis.
Iqbal told officers he had been addicted to cocaine for 16 years and was paying off a debt to dealers who would “break his legs” if he did not work for them, ferrying, storing, cutting and mixing drugs.
Iqbal, who pleaded guilty to supplying heroin and possession of cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply, refused to give the names of anyone he was working for.
His barrister, James Bourne-Arton, told the court Iqbal began taking cocaine recreationally and it had cost him everything.
“He has lost his career, his wife, his dignity and his good name,” Mr Bourne-Arton said.
Judge Peter Benson told him: “It is a tragedy to see you before the court, at the age of 42, for the very first time.”
Iqbal was a highly intelligent man who had worked in responsible jobs and knew full well the misery that Class A drugs visited on people, the court heard.
After the case, Detective Inspector Jon Key, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “We are pleased with the sentence Javid Iqbal has received for his part in this offence. He has been involved in the storage and supply of large amounts of Class A drugs and the sentence reflects the part he has played.
“I hope this will serve as a warning to all those involved in drugs supply across West Yorkshire.”
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