Online drug dealer caught posting cocaine across UK

Zakira Jawaid has been given a 12 year prison sentence

An online drug dealer was caught after he used a shop as the return address for a parcel containing cocaine, a court heard.

Leicestershire Police said Zakira Jawaid must have spent "several years" dealing the class A drug and had reached the point where he was sending out a number of parcels almost every day.

The court heard he had posted cocaine to an address in London, but it was redirected to a shop in Glasgow on 28 September, where staff called the police.

Jawai has now been jailed for 12 years after admitting to supplying class A drugs and money laundering.

Police were lying in wait for Zakira Jawaid outside the post office he used to send out cocaine, a court heard.

During investigations, police discovered the parcel which was redirected to Glasgow had been sent by special delivery from a post office in Leicester, which had captured Jawaid on CCTV and identified him using facial recognition.

A few days later, officers were waiting outside the post office in Fullhurst Avenue when Jawaid arrived holding a carrier bag which contained 17 parcels of cocaine which were being sent across the UK.

Jawaid, 46, was arrested at the scene and officers then searched his home in Winton Avenue, Leicester.

Inside, they found 4.6kg (162oz) of cocaine, estimated to be worth around £460,000.

An examination of his laptop found he was selling cocaine on a marketplace on the dark web and on messaging apps Zangi and Signal.

Police found cocaine estimated to be worth £46,000 at Zakira Jawaid's home in Leicester

Police say he also had $24,000 (£18,048) of cryptocurrency in a number of crypto wallets which are believed to have been earned from the sale of drugs.

Jawaid pleaded guilty to one count of supplying class A drugs and one count of money laundering and was jailed for 12 years at Leicester Crown Court on Monday.

Det Con Lucy Boote said: "Jawaid was not known to police prior to this but it was clear to see from the scale of his operation that he had been selling drugs for several years.

"I am pleased the level of his offending has been recognised and he has been brought to justice."