Leeds dealer who stashed eye-watering amount of drugs in her knickers is spared immediate custody
A drug dealer who kept her supply of her drugs in her underwear has been spared jail after turning her life around.
Zara Pervaz was caught selling deadly heroin and crack cocaine, but it was only when she was strip searched at the police station did they find her stash - worth more than £900.
Leeds Crown Court heard that police pulled a car over on Garnet Road in Beeston in June 2021, in which Pervaz was the passenger.
Officers spotted a cannabis grinder in the centre console. She was arrested and on her way to the station produced a wrap of drugs from her underwear.
Having been searched, officers recovered more than 60 wraps of drugs. She also had £453 in cash on her.
She said that she was forced to sell drugs but was afraid to provide names and was desperate to “escape the life”, prosecutor Frances Pencheon said.
But during her police interview, Pervaz refused to answer questions.
Pervaz, of Brantwood Crescent, Bradford, admitted two counts of dealing in Class A drugs.
Mitigating, Jane Brady said it had been more than three years since the offence and there had been a inexplicable delay in bringing the matter to court, none of which was Pervaz’s fault.
She said: “To her credit, she has freed herself from her drug addiction.
“She is genuinely remorseful for the position she was in, but she has done all she can to put things right in her life.”
A probation report found she had developed a drug habit, had fallen into debt and was forced to pay it off by being put to work selling.
Judge Penelope Belcher told Pervaz: “It’s clear there’s been a change in your life.”
She handed her an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years. In addition, she was given 100 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation days with probation.