Drug dealer found hiding in parents' attic jailed

Faaris Zaman, 27, was sentenced to 11 years and seven months in prison

A Bradford drug dealer who fled the UK and was later found hiding in his parents’ attic has been jailed.

Faaris Zaman, 27, went on the run overseas after being arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers in July 2020.

Zaman used encrypted messaging platform EncroChat with the handle "oraclewarrior" to supply cocaine and heroin, and handled £1.3m in criminal profits.

He was found more than three years later and sentenced to 11 years and seven months in prison at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday.

Following Zaman's arrest, NCA investigators searched his family home in Ashgrove where they found £89k in cash, a vacuum packing machine and lists of "debtors".

They also recovered handwritten notes detailing buyers, prices and pick-up vehicles that provided records of drugs supply deals dating back as far as October 2018.

His EncroChat messages showed he had contacted other organised crime groups to deal in cocaine and heroin, moving hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time.

Zaman then left the country after refusing to comment in a police interview.

However, he managed to re-enter the UK and in October 2023 he was tracked down and found in the attic.

NCA operations manager Nigel Coles said: “Faaris Zaman has suggested he played a lesser role in this drugs supply network, but this was high-level serious and organised criminality and his messages showed he was a significant and trusted operator."

His activities were discovered as part of Operation Venetic, when the NCA managed to 'crack' EncroChat, a platform used almost exclusively by criminals. The UK had over 10,000 users and hundreds of arrests were made as a result. The app's servers have now been shut down.

Mr Coles added: “The messages obtained under Operation Venetic led us straight to Zaman who thought he was operating above law enforcement."

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