A Fife dealer’s £340,000 drugs operation was rumbled when police saw him carrying out a high value cannabis sale in a car park.
Mohammed Asif’s car and family home in Glenrothes were later searched and found to contain kilos of cannabis, as well as thousands in cash.
The 49-year-old kept a further £90,000 hidden in a safe at a friend’s house, which was also raided as police smashed his scheme.
Co-accused Rigels Dema, who was the other party in the car park deal, had his van searched and £73,400 in cash was recovered.
The pair pled guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to being concerned in the supply of cannabis between February 1 and 7 2022.
Asif also admitted a separate charge of acquiring and possessing criminal property.
Police watch drug deal
The court heard police received intelligence which led them to a car park near a row of shops in Glenrothes on February 7.
Asif and 39-year-old Dema were seen conversing after leaving their vehicles.
Dema removed bags from his van and placed them in the boot of Asif’s Audi.
Dema was spotted leaning into the front of the van while holding a small item, before talking to Asif again.
Both men entered their vehicles but only Asif left the scene before returning later on.
Police detained both men and they were found with numerous mobile phones.
Dema had £710 in his possession and the remaining cash was hidden under the passenger seat.
Officers recovered two large laundry bags of cannabis from the boot of Asif’s Audi, each weighing one kilo.
A further £390 was discovered in the centre console, as well as a paper with various monetary values written on it.
Police raids
Asif’s property was raided while his wife and two children were present.
A total of £10,830 was found, as well as pieces of paper with various town and cities in Scotland written on them.
Four packages of cannabis were then recovered from the garage.
Asif’s friend Kudisa Noreen also had her property searched.
She told officers Asif asked her to keep a safe at her home to store money from a construction industry business.
Miss Noreen stated she was given keys and ordered not to look inside the safe.
Nine bundles of cash totalling £90,000 were found inside the safe.
Prosecutor Paul Kearney said: “The manner in which the cash was bundled was exactly similar to the bundles of cash recovered from the van earlier that day.
“Together with the observations from the car park, the inference can be drawn that the money from the van was payment by Asif for cannabis subsequently recovered from the boot of his car.”
Resale value close to £250,000
One of the phones was analysed and found to contain a message with the postcode of shops close to the car park.
The hearing was told the cannabis recovered from the Audi and Asif’s garage had the potential resale value of £239,960.
The total cash recovered attributed to Asif was £100,830.
It was revealed Asif has spent 15 years behind bars across two separate drugs offences.
Dema is a first offender, understood to be subject to a UK deportation order.
Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by Judge Lord Matthews.
Both men, who appeared from custody, remain on remand.
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