Mahmud Aslam, instructed by Shahzad Ali of SAK Solicitors (Bradford), secured acquittals on allegations of Possession of Heroin with intent to supply and Possession of Crack Cocaine with intent to supply following a trial at Lincoln Crown court.
Initially the case involved a further four defendants, three of whom had pleaded Guilty on the first day of trial and a further defendant who was tried in absence.
Several police officers entered Coastfields Park in Ingoldmells, Lincoln and conducted a raid on a caravan parked at the site. It was said that all five defendants were in the process of making, cooking and bagging Class A drugs for onward sale and delivery by cars or mopeds. Mahmud’s client was observed to be wearing no upper garment but observed to be wearing gloves and stood above a plastic tub containing wraps and powder. The caravan was openly littered with drugs, scales, cash and other drug paraphernalia and cooking material. One other co-defendant was also observed to be wearing gloves. Mobile telephones belonging to all defendants were seized and said to contain incriminating text messages and images.
In Police Interview, the defendant denied any involvement and refused to identify the roles of the others in the caravan as he did not wish to appear as an informant. In relation to his presence in the caravan, he maintained that he knew two of his co-defendants who he was simply visiting. He had left the caravan at one stage to purchase boxer shorts for one of his co-defendants. It had been raining hence on his return he had removed his “damp” t-shirt. He had put gloves on shortly before the arrival of the police to avoid leaving his fingerprints on anything once he fully realised what the others were doing in the caravan.
A considerable amount of cash was found at an address associated with the defendant along with what was believed to be high value designer goods. The defendant accepted that he was familiar with drug terminology and the different street names of drugs as he had learnt them from watching the “Top Boy” drama series on television. There had been considerable reasonable lines of inquiry which had not been undertaken by the police and the evidence presented on body worn footage and evidence given at trial by police officers had been contradictory and conflicting in several material aspects.
The jury returned unanimous verdicts of Not Guilty on all charges.