Duo who bought cannabis in America and sold it on in the UK jailed

Yesterday (20/2/24), Mohammed Zubair Issa (05/12/1997) of Agecroft Road West was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months after being found guilty of Money Laundering and Tahir Ejaz (31/10/1997) of Brandlesholme Road was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months after being found guilty Supplying Class B drugs of  after they both appeared at Manchester Crown Court yesterday.

The sentencing is the result of an in-depth investigation conducted by GMP’s Economic Crime Unit officers who gathered information which led them to believe that Issa and Ejaz were heavily involved in the illicit laundering of criminal finances.

The first contact between the two occurred in 2020, following messages sent on Snapchat discussing money that is owed to Ejaz and in 2021, again, on Snapchat, Ejaz was asked to deliver £5,000 to an address in Preston and later discussed the conversion of cash to Crypto Currency explaining that a cut of money would be given to Issa for his role.

The duo used a cannabis supplier in America to provide them with drugs to sell on for a profit in the UK, and their Snapchat messages showed a number of images of large amounts of cash, and small value notes as well as addresses and locations in America that Issa instructs the cash to be collected from or delivered to and discussed money to be transferred to Crypto Currency to pay their supplier in America.

Ejaz was arrested on the 24 of July 2023 on suspicion of being concerned in the Supply of Class B Drugs and Money Laundering following a number of warrants executed at addresses associated with him.

During the search of his property two mobile devices were seized from the bed of Ejaz and further examination by detectives of these devices showed another individual who detectives connected to Issa also being heavily involved in an Organised Crime Group as he was laundering large amounts of cash on behalf of and at the request of Ejaz and attempting to purchase cannabis from him to sell.

Following the investigation, financial investigators looked into Issa’s financial status. Issa claimed his annual Income was around £40,000. However, when detectives assessed all his bank accounts, since January 2019 he has received just under £2,000,000 in credits, this would mean he would have had to be earning around £500,000 a year.

Alongside this, he purchased a property outright for £300,000 in May 2023 and sent £145,327 to a property developer based in Dubai who sells luxury properties there, showing that he was living well above and beyond any legitimate means.

Detective Constable Lee Taylor of GMP’s Economic Crime Unit, said: “I hope today’s result sends a message to anyone who is involved in the supply of drugs and the laundering of criminal money that we will not tolerate our communities being blighted by this destructive trade and will be knocking on your door soon.

Detective Inspector Sarah Langley of GMP’s Economic Crime Unit, who leads the Money Laundering team, said: “As a unit, we will relentlessly pursue anyone we believe is profiting from crime.

"GMP will robustly disrupt serious criminality, and we are determined to continue to bring criminals to justice and remove them from the law-abiding communities that they are harming.  

"We act on information and use all powers available to us to secure an arrest, charge and then take a strong case to court for a conviction.

“We want to take this opportunity to issue a warning to criminals; as a unit we push to confiscate and recover any illicit profit through the Proceeds of Crime Act, so that whatever you take, you will have to pay it back.

“I'd like to thank the public for continuing to support our work by reporting fraud, and sharing information.”

If you have any concerns or see anything suspicious contact us directly on 101 or gmp.police.uk or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111. Always call 999 in an emergency.”