Drug dealer in Southend who went on four holidays in four months jailed after airport arrest

• WATCH: Essex Police arrest Shazad Miah at Luton airport and seize over £3,000 cash from a safe found at his home

A man who ran a drug line supplying crack cocaine and heroin in Southend has been jailed for nine years.

Shazad Miah was arrested by police at Luton airport, after returning from Turkey, on 4 June 2023.

He used the drug profits to fund 'lavish' holidays to Paris, Menorca, Amsterdam and Turkey, all within four months.

Miah held the drug line phones across a period between February and June 2023, with up to five runners working under him a day.

The day before his arrest, he had sent pictures to one of his drug runners back in the UK on a privately chartered boat in Turkey.

On the same day as the arrest, Essex Police seized more than £3,000 cash from a safe at his home in Ashingdon Road, Rochford.

They also found a passport belonging to one of his suspected runners inside the safe.

Detective Sergeant Rob Maile, of Op Raptor South, said: "Miah filtered in excess of £30,000 through various bank accounts, money we know was a result of Class A drug dealing.

"He was distanced from the harsh reality of crack cocaine and heroin use, which brings associated anti-social behaviour impacting our communities and a disastrous impact on the lives of those addicted to these substances.

"Instead, he used the profits of this drug line to fund holidays to Paris, Menorca, Amsterdam and Turkey – all within a four-month period.

"Unlike those impacted, devastatingly, by the trade of the drugs he sold, he lived beyond his means – directing the runners on the streets in Southend. Others took the risk, for little of the reward.

"Miah had runners deposit cash into his bank accounts whilst he was on holiday, which he then used for further expensive purchases.

"We traced his links to the drug line phones, we traced his financial activity and we traced his movements to build a solid case against him.

"He knew he faced serious prison time for this activity, having previously been convicted for similar drug dealing in the past.

"Our work against Miah won’t stop with his imprisonment, we will be looking at ways of preventing and discouraging any further offending.

"At any level, either lower down the chain or those running the operation, drug dealers cannot operate with impunity in Essex."

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