Police discovered a loaded gun and nearly £200k cash in used notes from a convicted Black Country drug trafficker’s home.
Aaron Chander, 26 had his house on Stafford Road, Wolverhampton raided when officers found a pistol with 20 bullets, cocaine, lists of recorded drug deals and £193,430 in bundles in a wardrobe.
Chander, is one of three dealers who were jailed following a cocaine deal in the pub car park of the Moreton Arms in Wolverhampton last year.
The Organised Crime Partnership found 6kg of cocaine, wrapped in balloons inside a sports bag, in the boot of the car after they followed Chander, Aba Saleh and Ferass Awwad to the car park and swooped after watching Chander get in and out of a car in which the others were sitting.
Chander sentenced to 17 years and two months at Wolverhampton Crown Court after pleading guilty to possession of the gun, conspiring to supply cocaine and money laundering.
The other two admitted their part in the cocaine conspiracy, 31-year-old Saleh, of Townsend Lane, and 27-year-old Awwad, of Green Lane North, Childwall, both Liverpool, were sentenced to seven years, and five years three months respectively.
Matthew McMillan, Organised Crime Partnership operations manager, said: “Organised criminals are a threat to the public even when unarmed.
“But if they have access to guns they become a serious danger to members of the public. I have no doubt that this firearm would have been used to further Chander’s drug trafficking.
“Finding guns and removing them from the streets is a top priority for the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police.”
The Organised Crime Partnership brings together officers from the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service to protect the communities of London and elsewhere from the harm inflicted by organised crime.
