A drug dealer caught with large stockpiles of cocaine and cash in a hotel room and his home has been jailed for more than eight years.
In April last year, police went to the Grand Hotel, in Seaburn, Sunderland, and asked if any rooms had been booked out in Muhon Miah’s name. He had been staying there for a year, under his own name and thereafter under the name Peter Wilkinson.
On being shown a picture of him, staff confirmed he was there and directed officers to his current room. Officers went to his room and after finding a small amount of cannabis, they found 296g of cocaine and £30,825 cash in the ceiling and under a mattress.
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Judge Penny Moreland, at Newcastle Crown Court, said: “Within that ceiling panel was found a stock in trade of a cocaine dealer – cocaine divided for sale into snap bags and with it money both in the ceiling and under the mattress, amounting to over £30,000.”
Cash seized from Muhon Miah
(Image: Northumbria Police)
As a result of that, police went to Saint Judes Terrace, South Shields, an address provided by Miah, 25, as his home, and they found £89,340 cash in the loft and a further £78,990 in suitcases behind new plaster board.
Miah pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply, two counts of concealing criminal property and possessing cannabis. He was jailed for eight years and seven months.
Drugs seized from Muhon Miah
(Image: Northumbria Police)
Laura Miller, defending, said Miah had stayed in a number of rooms in the hotel. She added: “He found himself unable to work and fell in with the wrong crowd.
“This was not his whole operation. He didn’t have the capacity to be the lead offender. He was the person in the position of the most risk, with the drugs and money.”
Miss Miller said police only searched the ceiling because one of the tiles was ajar and said Miah’s bank card was up there, which she said illustrated his lack of sophistication.
Miss Miller added that Miah has not undertaken legitimate work before and said: “His ambition is to remain drug free and start work obtaining legitimate employment.
“He is very sorry. He knows he has made a mistake. He has learned, and continues to learn, his lesson.
“He understands the impact of the impact of the supply of drugs in the community but also the impact of his actions on those around him.”
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