Wakefield weed dealer raided three times claimed £48,000 worth of drugs was for personal use

Police raided the home of Kasim Abbas on three separate occasions, not only recovering the drugs but a “cache” of weapons, including air rifles, replica handguns, knuckledusters, axes, a samurai sword and a meat clever.

Leeds Crown Court heard that police, armed with a warrant, first went to the address on Hatfeild Street near Wakefield city centre, on May 30, 2018. They found the front door barricaded with a sofa, and the rear door jammed with a wooden stake, prosecutor Holly Clegg told the court.

Having forced their way inside, they found Abbas in a bedroom. They found 10 plants in a growing tent with the usual equipment. They also recovered £8,000 worth of dried cannabis, £700 in cash and the arsenal of weapons.

But having been arrested and released, officers raided the property again on October 14, 2018. Getting in through an open window, again they found five plants growing and £500 worth of dried cannabis. The confiscated £1,190 from a jacket pocket.

Then on October 10, 2019, they raided the semi-detached house for a third time and found £2,500 of dried cannabis and more weapons.

Abbas eventually admitted three counts of dealing cannabis, and two of producing cannabis.

A pre-sentence report into Abbas, who is now 32, suggested he had been a regular cannabis smoker since he was teenager.

He said he had always paid for the drugs through work, but suffered serious injuries when someone through a brick through a window of a car and affected his eye sight. He became isolated after leaving his job and bought cannabis in bulk.

His intake became worse and decided to grow his own, claiming he had no intention of selling the drug for financial gain. He still lives with his mother at the same address.

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Mitigating, Mohammed Rafiq said: “He has reduced his dependency on cannabis but still takes some. He realises he is looking at a custodial sentence, and could have no complaints about it.”

Judge Robin Mairs told Abbas: “You were bailed and it did not stop this offending - you went straight back to it. It was proficient and professional growing.

“You said it was for personal use. It’s clearly unsustainable. There was far too much cannabis, and there was a cache of weapons and the doors barricaded. It was a professional set up, making a profit in supplying cannabis.”

He said that there was £11,000 worth of dried cannabis was found in total, with the plants capable of producing £37,400 worth of the drug.

He said that the delays in the court proceedings were largely caused by Abbas’ continuous denials, until he finally changed his pleas. He was jailed for 43 months.