Birmingham man Hemant Patel jailed for six years for drug offences
A DRUG dealer faces having £120,000 seized by police after he was jailed for six years for drug offences.
Hemant Patel, from Handsworth, was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court of five counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and one count of possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply.
There will now be Proceeds of Crime (POCA) hearing to deal with over £120,000 worth of assets which were seized by police during their investigation.
Patel was arrested in July 2010 following a search warrant which was executed at an address in Woodstock Road, Handsworth.
Found at the address was £2450 of heroin, £1250 of crack cocaine and £900 of benzocaine a pharmaceutical drug used as a bulking agent for cocaine and heroin. There is no recognised legal use for benzocaine in non prepared formats. £11,000 in cash was also seized.
Following investigations, a further £120,000 of assets was discovered and a POCA Restraint Order was sought for and obtained at Birmingham Crown Court.
Police executed a further search warrant at the address in November 2010 and this time recovered £1300 of crack cocaine, £1300 of heroin and 1270 millilitres of methadone, a quantity of cannabis along with a further £3000 in cash.
Patel was arrested and again and was charged with 5 counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and 1 count of possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply.
DCI Simon Wallis from Force CID said: “We welcome this result- the case came to trial at Birmingham Crown Court and the jury took one hour to convict him on all six counts and Patel was sentenced. There is also £120,000 of assets under restraint with a POCA hearing to follow.”
