Dealers jailed after cocaine and handgun found

Kleart Xhaferaj (left) has now been jailed for seven and a half years, while Xhoni Lazaj was given a six-and-a-half-year jail term in November

Two drug dealers have been jailed after a handgun recovered by police officers was linked to both of them.

Xhoni Lazaj, 20, was arrested in Eastfield, Peterborough, last June as neighbourhood officers responded to concerns from residents about drug dealing.

Lazaj was with Kleart Xhaferaj, 26, and Cambridgeshire Police said that as the pair ran off, Xhaferaj ditched a plastic bag containing a handgun, £4,000 in cash and almost £16,000 worth of cocaine.

In November, Lazaj was jailed for six and a half years, and Xhaferaj, who was not arrested until November, has now been jailed for seven and a half years.

Police found the firearm ditched in the bushes in Eastfield

On 13 June, Cambridgeshire Police said its officers spotted Lazaj, known to be a disqualified driver, driving a black Vauxhall in Eastfield and a search of the area led to the discovery of a plastic bag in bushes, which they believed had been ditched by Lazaj's passenger, Xhaferaj.

Officers said both suspects fled, and Lazaj was arrested nearby.

A search of his home in Dickens Street uncovered ammunition, mobile phones, £580 worth of cannabis, handwritten notes, which appeared to be "debt sheets", and £950 in cash.

Forensic testing of the discarded firearm found Lazaj's DNA on it.

Xhaferaj escaped but was arrested on 21 November when a warrant was executed at a house he was linked to in Dunsberry in the Bretton area of the city.

Inside the force said its officers found £8,791 in cash, some of which was hidden inside an oven, as well as up to £9,270 worth of cannabis.

He was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court this week.

He had admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis, acquiring criminal property, and being in possession of a handgun.

Lazaj was jailed last year after admitting possession of a handgun, being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis, and driving while disqualified.

He was also disqualified from driving for 59 months.

Det Con Craig Leslie said: "I appreciate the recovery of a viable firearm may be alarming – there is absolutely no place for this type of activity in our county.

"I would urge the public to continue working with us so we can keep taking dangerous weapons and drugs off our streets."