By James Simons-
A convicted drugs trafficker is now set to lose his house after a court imposed a confiscation order on him, totalling more than £108,000.
Mazhar Abbas, 47, is rotting in jail with depression after being smacked with a 12-and-a-half year prison sentence after being convicted in April 2018, for his part in a conspiracy to traffic 40 kilos of heroin across West Yorkshire.
He was arrested in November 2017 as part of Operation Rangeland – an operation led by the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit.
Abas is believed to have been a major supplier of heroin in the Bradford area, drawing some of his clientele from Leeds, Manchester, and London, and potentially other parts of the UK.
Abas’S legal representatives had try to argue that his house belonged to a family member, but a judge at Bradford Crown Court rejected that argument and granted a confiscation order, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, to the amount £108,881.
The court also made a Compliance Order under the same Act, which forces a defendant to be transparent when selling the property. Failure to do so is treated as contempt of court.
Ramona Senior, Head of the Regional Economic Crime Unit said: “Abbas played his part in bringing misery to the streets of West Yorkshire.
“Now, as well as serving a significant sentence, he has lost his assets. This demonstrates our determination to bring confiscation proceedings against convicted drug traffickers.
“A similar fate awaits anyone tempted to follow this path”.