Men who suppled 'wholesale' heroin and cocaine to the South West jailed

Four men have been jailed for supplying "a huge amount" of heroin and cocaine to the South West.

James Lea, 34, from Sparton Close in Gloucester, Omar Hassanjee, 46, from Shirley Road in Birmingham, Mohammed Ishmail, 26, of Woodfield Road in Birmingham, and James Pokora, 45, of no fixed address, were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on 11 October.

The sentencing comes following an investigation by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU).

The court heard how Lea would travel from Gloucester to meet Hassanjee in Birmingham to collect drugs to supply to his customers in the South West numerous times in April and May 2024.

Officers arrested Lea at his home on Spartan Close on 16 May.

Cocaine with a street value of £13,000 was seized, along with cash, scales, cling film, and other paraphernalia.

Two days later officers seized a cardboard box from a car being driven towards Birmingham by Pakora containing 17 blocks of heroin with a street value of £2.5 million.

Later the same day, £15,000 of high purity cocaine was later seized from beneath the floorboards of safe house on Stoney Lane, Birmingham, which was being cared for by Ishmail.

Hassanjee used his own home on Shirley Road in Birmingham to store the money made from the dealing. During a search, officers found several envelopes and packages containing cash, which totalled £65k.

Envelopes and other packaging at his house matched that found in Lea’s house in Gloucester.

Lea pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply and was jailed for four years.

Investigators said £15,000 of high purity cocaine was later seized from beneath the floorboards of safehouse on Stoney Lane, Birmingham, which was being cared for by Ishmail.

Ishmail was sentenced to eight years and three months for the supply of heroin, and five years and three months for the supply of cocaine, to run concurrently. Pokora was sentenced to three years and nine months for the supply of heroin.

Hassanjee, who was found to have organised the supply of heroin and cocaine across the country, will be sentenced at a later date.

Det Ch Insp Adam Smith, from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said officers seized "a huge amount of class A drugs".

“This group was supplying class A drugs at a wholesale scale, but those same drugs would have ended up as clingfilm-wrapped street deals to vulnerable drug users in our communities.

"I’d urge people to keep reporting information about drug activity as it all helps build a picture and, ultimately, to target those higher up the chain.”