Drug dealer likened to a TV character from The Wire has been ordered to pay back almost £40k

A drug dealer from Birmingham has been ordered to pay back almost £40,000 made from criminal gains.

Zahir Hussain, who was likened to a TV character from The Wire was jailed for six years and three months after running a crack cocaine and heroin operation.

He ran the operation through a phone network named after himself as 'Zee Line'.

Following the court case officers from the West Midlands Regional Asset Recovery Team discovered that cash deposits were passed through a company controlled by Hussain, which claimed to sell toilet rolls and bin bags. It found he still held assets worth £38,000.

A hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on 28th July ordered the 41 year-old from Trafalgar Grove in Yardley to hand that money back.

Hussain who had been studying small business management, similar to Idris Elba's character Stringer Bell in The Wire, must hand over the cash or face an extra 12 months behind bars.

During the initial criminal investigation in 2014, officers discovered Class A drugs, £10,000 in cash and mobile phones after swooping on a city centre apartment in Sheepcote Street in Birmingham. They used mobile phone records to pin down Hussain and he was jailed for conspiracy to supply drugs.

A 37 year-old man was given a suspended two year jail term for his role in the delivery of drugs and a 23 year-old woman was given a 12 month community order for possession of Class A drugs.