Leeds drug dealer 'acting out of fear' spared jail over threats to his family

Police pulled over Anil Miah's silver VW Golf on October 26, 2020, after they became suspicious of a sharp manoeuvre into a side street when he noticed the officers, Leeds Crown Court heard this week.

They eventually pulled the vehicle over on Street Lane, with Miah driving the car with no passengers. They conducted a search and found £280 worth of heroin separated into deals, and £210 worth of crack cocaine, also separated. In addition, they also recovered £660 in cash. He gave no comments during his subsequent police interview.

The 24-year-old later admitted two counts of dealing in Class A drugs. Prosecutor Jade Edwards said the Crown accepted a basis of plea that Miah, of St Wilfrids Avenue, Harehills, was working under orders by a third party to simply drop off drugs and collect money. They also accepted that he had been threatened with violence over a debt he had accrued, as had his siblings and his father, so he was ordered to deal to clear that debt.

Mitigating, Philip Mahoney said that it had been 39 months since his arrest and had stayed out of trouble. He added: "Despite the stress he has been able to move away from offending completely it would seem."

Judge Tahir Khan KC told Miah: "You were not pulling the strings here, you were being directed to hand over drugs. You acted out of fear. It's on that basis I'm now able to pass a sentence that does not require you to go to prison. In the ordinary course of events, in Class A drug dealing, you could expect to receive a sentence of three of four years but this is an exceptional case."

He gave him an 18-month sentence suspended for two years, along with 20 rehabilitation days and 180 hours of unpaid work.