Convicted dealer found with working 9mm pistol and ammunition at Wakefield home

Officers burst into a property on St Catherine Street in the Belle Vue area of the city on the morning of October 25 last year and found several men inside, including Waheed Yaseen and Nelson Ndikumana.

The officers found more than 30 wraps of heroin and 36 wraps of crack cocaine separated into individual street deals in the house, along with burner phones. Leeds Crown Court heard. They also found around £500 in cash.

Ndikumana, 27, was strip searched at the police station and was carrying an additional 43 wraps of crack and 16 of heroin in his boxer shorts.

The police also searched 46-year-old Yaseen’s home on nearby Wesley Street where they found the 9mm firearm hidden in a shoulder bag concealed between two beds, along with two rounds of live ammunition. The only drug-related items found at Ndikumana’s hone on Norton Street in Wakefield was a set of digital scales.

During his interview, Yaseen confirmed he jointly owned the property on St Catherine Street but he was only there to buy drugs when the police arrived. He said he had left it empty since his last jail sentence and others had moved in to sell the illegal drugs. He was adamant he was not dealing and made no money.

He later admitted permitting premises to be used for drug dealing, possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition. He has 17 previous convictions for 39 offences including dealing in crack and heroin for which he was jailed in 2022. He was out on licence when police conducted their latest raid.

Ndikumana, of Norton Street, Wakefield, gave a no-comment interview but admitted two counts of dealing in class A drugs. He has five previous convictions but none for drugs.

Mitigating for Ndikumana, Anna Chambers said he was selling drugs to fund his own addiction and pay off a debt, and he was remorseful. A probation report suggested he was attempting to leave drugs behind.

For Yaseen, Laura Addy said: “His record is not pretty and it’s long. He has a lifelong and life-ruining drug addiction. He recognised that drug-free is what he needs. If he was drug-free, he would not be here now. He is 46 and chances are running out.”

She said he let drug dealing take place in the house to help pay off his own drug debt, and with the possibility of receiving free drugs. For the gun, he claimed was also instructed to keep it by dealers and had never touched it. But it meant he was subject to the mandatory minimum five-year jail sentence. He was also subject to a minimum seven-year sentence for class A drug-related offences.

In total, Judge Anesh Pema told Yaseen: “You had only just come out of prison for the same kind of offending. It seems to me you allowed the property to be used.

"The storage of the gun is a well-known and well-trodden position. It remains a lethal weapon and it’s common that it’s given to people to look after.”

He jailed him for more than 10 years and six months. Ndikumana was jailed for 25 months.