A disqualified drink-driving drug dealer who was caught by police three times in two months has been jailed.
Mohammed Mehtab, 21, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison on Friday October 27 after admitting 20 offences.
In the early hours of Sunday July 24 last year, traffic officers began following Mehtab who was seen driving a black Volkswagen Tiguan erratically in Garton End Road, Dogsthorpe.
After signalling for him to pull over, Mehtab made off, driving on the wrong side of the road and colliding with another car, causing it to swerve into the path of the pursing police car.
Mehtab failed to stop after the collision – which left one of the passengers in the damaged vehicle having to be cut out of the car – and abandoned the Tiguan in nearby Elmfield Road.
He was found asleep in a front garden, smelling of alcohol, and was later found to be almost three times the legal drink drive limit, as well as disqualified from driving after being convicted of drink driving in March last year.
A search of the car found about £3,770 worth of heroin and crack cocaine.
Mehtab was bailed while further enquiries were carried out, however, the following month, on 23 August, traffic officers saw a silver Ford Focus mount a kerb as it exited a roundabout in Bourges Boulevard, central Peterborough.
Due to its manner of driving, the officers followed the car for a short while, observing it reach 65 mph in a 30-zone.
As the officers turned into Thorpe Road, they found the car had crashed into railings on a footpath.
The driver, Mehtab, and his passenger, 20-year-old Shamriz Ali, got out of the car and started to run towards the train station but Ali was detained and arrested after a search found he was in possession of a bag containing 82 wraps of crack cocaine and heroin and £397 in cash.
A short while later, Mehtab was detained in Station Road and found to be in possession of £104 in cash. He was also found to be more than double the legal drink-drive limit.
A search of the crashed Focus found a mobile phone which contained messages relating to drug dealing, £326 in cash and about £1,500 worth of crack cocaine and heroin.
Both men were initially bailed while further enquiries and forensic testing was carried out.
Less than three weeks later, on 15 September, Mehtab was stopped by traffic officers after he was again spotted driving erratically in Bourges Boulevard.
He was seen swerving across the road, resulting in officers signalling for him to pull over, however he failed to stop and ended up in a pursuit with Mehtab eventually crashing at a dead end in Lincoln Road by the footpath for Rhubarb Bridge.
Inside the car’s front passenger footwell was a bag containing about £7,300 of crack cocaine and heroin, a small amount of cannabis, “burner” phones and £762 in cash.
Mehtab, of Duke Street, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Friday October 27 where he was sentenced to a total of four-and-a-half years in prison after previously admitting:
- three counts of dangerous driving
- three counts of driving without insurance
- two counts of driving without a licence
- two counts of driving while disqualified
- two counts of drink driving, failing to stop for police
- failing to stop at the scene of a collision
- possession of cannabis
- acquiring criminal property – namely cash
- four counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
Ali, of Foston Lane, Bradford, appeared at the same court where he was jailed for a total of three years and nine months after previously admitting possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
He was also sentenced to an additional year-and-a-half in prison for affray, possession of a knife in a public place and other drug offences relating to the West Yorkshire area, taking his total sentence to five years and three months.
Detective Constable Kevin Poole, who investigated, said: “These were great spots by our road policing officers who saw Mehtab’s driving fell far below the standards of a safe and competent driver.
“His repeated offending shows a complete disregard for the law, and his actions have been completely selfish, putting not only his life at risk but those of other drivers and pedestrians.
“We’re working hard to tackle drug dealing across the county, and this latest result is very welcome.”
Anyone with information or concerns about drugs can report via the force’s dedicated drugs information webpage.
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