For drug dealers, one would think their main objective is to avoid the police. That, and to make some quick cash.
But what often lets them down is their bungling attempts to hide their stash when the forces come knocking.
Manchester’s courts, like the rest of the country, are no stranger to the plight of drug dealers - with users, dealers, smugglers and everything in between often finding themselves behind the dock.`
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However, it can often be down to the sellers themselves who cause their own operations to crumble.
From the crystal meth dealer who left his products in a taxi, to the dad who hid heroin in his child’s rucksack - their recklessness led to their downfall, and a heavy stretch behind bars.
Here, the Manchester Evening News looks back on the cases where drug dealers majorly messed up.
Crystal meth dealer led police straight to his door
Sean O’Neill, carelessly left behind £35,000 worth of crystal meth in a taxi in Manchester.
Earlier that day, on December 18 last year, dad-of-two Sean O’Neill , 29, went to a storage facility in Salford were he was handed a red TK Maxx bag, which he put into the boot of the cab.
He was driven to the Lumiere Building in central Manchester, but got out of the car without his bag. Realising his mistake, O’Neill rang the cab firm who told him he could collect the belongings.
The drugs he left behind involved 181 grams of methylamphetamine, known as crystal meth, 261 grams of ketamine worth £3,680 and 19 grams of cannabis. A set of scales was also found with traces of those drugs.
O'Neill was eventually arrested on June 21 near a gym in the Wirral, after falling asleep in a taxi under the influence of drugs. A holdall with him contained seven bags of cannabis and 11 bags of crystal meth.
O’Neill, of Enfield Road, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to eight offences involving possessing methylamphetamine, ketamine and cannabis with intent to supply and conspiring to supply those drugs and also GBL between December last year and June 21. He was jailed for eight and a half years.
Cocaine dealer pointed out £100k in illegal cash to cops
Gavin Kelly bumped into police whilst they were carrying out a search on another property in his block of flats in Blackley. When they asked him if there was anything in the building they should be aware of, he said: “Yes, obviously, upstairs in the flat - the coke.”
Officers escorted the 36-year-old up to his apartment on Rochdale Road, where he pointed them to a cupboard area in the kitchen. It contained a large plastic box with around one kilo of coke inside with a street value of more than £100,000.
He also pointed to a shopping bag and a holdall in the apartment, packed with about £70,000 in cash.
When the incident happened in August 2016, a full search of the whole building was carried out and officers recovered a number of items associated with drug supply including further amounts of cocaine, with an approximate street value of £3,000, electronic scales and money counter, and numerous mobile phones.
Officers also seized an Audi A6 TDi worth about £20,000, which was parked outside Kelly’s address, several high value watches with a total value of £29,000 – one of which he was wearing at the time of the search.
Kelly pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply and money laundering and was jailed eight years.
Smuggler strolled through airport carrying 18 kilos of heroin
Mohammed Uzair Rashid calmly walked through an airport carrying 18 kilos of high-strength heroin in his baggage - worth an estimated £900,000.
The 35-year-old was stopped by Border Force officers for a search.
They found packages of heroin inside a suitcase he had checked in and collected on arrival from Pakistan at Birmingham Airport. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said its forensic experts found that the packages contained heroin with a purity of between 66 and 71 per cent.
Rashid, from Oldham, was jailed for nine years. The NCA said he pleaded guilty to class A drug importation offences.
Rashid was stopped after he arrived into the airport on a flight from Sialkot in Pakistan, via Dubai, in November, 2021. CCTV camera images have been revealed which capture him walking through the airport with his luggage. The NCA said Rashid claimed the bags were not his, then that the packages had been planted inside.
Dealer hid £30k worth of heroin inside his children’s rucksack
Simon Rogers was pulled over by officers whilst driving a stolen Audi. The 40-year-old was allowed to explain the situation to his children (who were both in the car at the time) before they were transported to the homes of other family members.
He was also given the chance to gather their belongings in the car in holdalls before being taken into custody.
Police later attempted to carry out a search of his home on Alt Road, Liverpool, but the house key was not on a set that had been seized. Officers then returned to search the bags that the boys had been left with, hoping to find the key.
Instead, they found a block of heroin and two blocks of cannabis resin plus a 'huge amount of cash' totalling £15,000 with his nine-year-old son - who had been dropped at his grandma's in Kirkby. The other youngster had been taken to his mum's house in Speke.
Rogers admitted possession of heroin and cannabis with intent to supply, handling stolen goods, possession of criminal property and driving without insurance. He was locked up for four-and-a-half years.
Criminal turned ‘white’ after cops found £20k worth of crack cocaine
Joseph Oliveria was left ‘visibly shaken and white’ after police discovered almost £20,000 worth of crack cocaine at a house he shared with his sister.
Police armed with a warrant searched their house in Everton, Merseyside, in December 2020 after Oliveria, 26, was arrested over an ‘unrelated matter’.
Officers recovered two packages containing 15 wraps of crack from Oliveria, worth about £300. Within the property police found 1,824 deals found in a plastic Asda bag in a chest of drawers in Oliveria's bedroom.
The drugs were valued at £18,240. A joint and a bag of cannabis were seized from the living room, as were three wraps of heroin, a tick list and £300 in cash.
A CS gas canister containing his sister Georgia Kinsella's fingerprints was discovered in another bedroom. Liverpool Crown Court was told she had "handled it some months beforehand, was aware it was in the property and allowed it to remain on the premises'.
Oliveria was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply, breaching a suspended sentence order and possession of cannabis, while his sister avoided jail after admitting possessing a prohibited weapon. The siblings hugged in the dock as he was led down to the cells.
Dealer threw bag of drugs out of window which landed next to police car
Rezwan Hussain was caught red-handed after he threw bags of cocaine and heroin out of a window - only for it to land next to a police car.
It sparked an investigation and when police raided the home of Hussain’s mum they uncovered a £3m drugs factory.
Hussain, 29, of Clement Royds Street, Rochdale , was jailed for 11 years and six months after it was discovered he was running his drugs operation from the basement of his parent’s home.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard Greater Manchester Police visited Hussain’s home to speak to his brother about an unrelated matter on March 23, 2015.
Hussain told officers his brother was not in at the time but agreed to pass on the GMP number to his brother. But when the police left the address Hussain panicked and clambered up to an attic window, before chucking carrier bags containing drugs out of the window.
By the time the officers returned to their vehicle they found the bags containing cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin on the pavement next to the car
GMP returned to Hussain’s home and arrested his parents as Hussain had fled the scene.
Searches of the property led police to a basement where a considerable amount of drugs paraphernalia and further Class A substances were found.
Among the items was a cocaine purity test, a hydraulic press, digital scales and adulterants used to lace the drugs.
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