Over 2000 Posts Search here

Custom Search

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

teacher who led a double life as a major cocaine dealer has been jailed for 21 years.



Mohammed Sarwar taught IT at Burnage Media Arts College and was well-respected for his community work in south Manchester.

But, unknown to colleagues, pupils and parents, the 30-year-old business graduate was boss of a gang which sold cocaine wholesale to drug dealers.

Sarwar, known as ‘The Teacher’ in the criminal underworld, also took part in two foiled plots to smuggle cannabis to Mark Hunt, a convicted drug dealer friend serving time at Forest Bank Prison. He was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine and conspiracy to supply cannabis in a trial last month, at which five others were acquitted.

Six pay the price for doing business with 'The Teacher'

In the first conspiracy Robert Hart, a prison officer on Hunt’s wing, was recruited to smuggle 88 grams of cannabis inside for a £400 fee. But he was arrested minutes after a handover at Longsight Market in September 2008. Weeks later, Sarwar, of Ladybarn Lane, Ladybarn, passed a small quantity of drugs to Nicola Whitehead, girlfriend of another serving prisoner, in the car park of Forest Bank.

The pair were being watched by undercover police officers, and Whitehead was arrested moments after passing the drugs to her lover, Andrew Harrison, in a kiss. In 2009, while Sarwar was awaiting trial for the cannabis offence, Ben Davidson – a petty villain he had employed to courier cocaine –turned ‘supergrass’ and told the authorities what else the teacher had been up to.

Police from anti-gang crime unit Xcalibre already had suspicions that Sarwar was involved in cocaine dealing. They had planted a bug in his car and had been secretly trailing him around the city because of his links to known criminals.

The M.E.N. can reveal that the surveillance operation recorded Sarwar talking in detail about cocaine with a pupil. He was also seen taking the boy to what police suspected was a drug deal at a retail park in Salford.

Davidson’s testimony bolstered the evidence from the surveillance operation.

He claimed that he was paid to ferry kilos of cocaine – worth up to £36,000 each – to different gangs. He also provided details of how Sarwar meticulously planned the conspiracy to avoid detection, regularly changing phones and using a ‘stash-house’ in Wilmslow, run by co-defendant Leanne Bryan.

No drugs were ever recovered but police did discover a hydraulic press contaminated with cocaine in a raid on Ben Davidson’s Stalybridge home, a property supplied to him rent-free by Sarwar. A kilo of benzocaine – a cutting agent used to make cocaine go further and increase profits – was found at Miss Bryan’s home.

Sam Stein QC, defending, said there were ‘two sides’ to Mr Sarwar, one dedicated to teaching and community work, the other ‘involved in crime’.

The court heard he had brought ‘shame’ upon his respectable family. Sarwar looked stunned as Judge Roger Thomas QC ordered him to serve a total of 21 years.

"You qualified as a teacher, you could have led a lawful, decent life – you have done so such thing," he said. "Instead of putting your intelligence and resources to good and helpful use, you have put them to very unlawful purposes."

Det Insp Chris Packer, from the Xcalibre Organised Crime Unit, said: "He had a duty of care to all his pupils to set them on the right path as they become adults. However, by masterminding a drugs network he abused his position and set the worst sort of example possible."

Ian Fenn, the school’s headteacher, said he felt betrayed after learning of his former colleague’s crimes. He said: "The conviction of Mr Sarwar left me with a profound feeling of betrayal, but with the sentence of 21 years I am satisfied that justice has been done."

Six pay the price for doing business with 'The Teacher'

0 comments:

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Background

Privacy Policy (site specific)

Privacy Policy (site specific)
Privacy Policy :This blog may from time to time collect names and/or details of website visitors. This may include the mailing list, blog comments sections and in various sections of the Connected Internet site.These details will not be passed onto any other third party or other organisation unless we are required to by government or other law enforcement authority.If you contribute content, such as discussion comments, to the site, your contribution may be publicly displayed including personally identifiable information.Subscribers to the mailing list can unsubscribe at any time by writing to info (at) copsandbloggers@googlemail.com. This site links to independently run web sites outside of this domain. We take no responsibility for the privacy practices or content of such web sites.This site uses cookies to save login details and to collect statistical information about the numbers of visitors to the site.We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and would like to know your options in relation to·not having this information used by these companies, click hereThis site is suitable for all ages, but not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years old.This policy will be updated from time to time. If we make significant changes to this policy after that time a notice will be posted on the main pages of the website.

  © Blogger template Newspaper III by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP