Major league” drugs duo must pay back nearly £100,000 after proceeds of crime hearing

Batley man Fateh Laher, 29, and 32-year-old Khawer Maqsood, from Bradford, were both locked up in July 2018 for their part in what a judge described as “a major league operation” to supply import-grade cocaine and heroin onto the streets of the region.

Despite having no legitimate income Maqsood, of Byron Street, and Laher, of Deighton Lane, used BMW and Mitsubishi vehicles and went on trips to Marrakech and Dubai.

The pair used highly encrypted mobile phones which investigators were unable to access without the passwords and when officers raided a house in Curzon Road, Bradford, they found 12 kilograms of high purity cocaine, more than £15,000 in bundled up banknotes and a commercial cash-counting machine in the living room.

The duo both admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine and today (Fri) they were brought back to Bradford Crown Court from custody for a final Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.

Prosecutor Kitty Colley told Judge Jonathan Rose that a benefit figure from criminal conduct of just over £1.2 million had been agreed in respect of each defendant.

She told the court that Laher had available assets of just over £46,000 and Maqsood had assets amounting to just over £52,000.

Judge Rose made confiscation orders in the sums outlined and gave the pair three months to pay or face an extra two years in prison.

Jailing the pair back in 2018 Judge Colin Burn described their activities as "a major league operation" which would have brought misery to thousands of drug users.

He said the house on Curzon Road was "riddled" with cocaine when the police searched it earlier this year.