Taxi driver part of Bristol drugs gang jailed after finding up to £600,000 worth of cocaine in cab
Updated: Dec 21, 2021
Four drug dealers have been sentenced to a total of more than 25 years in prison following a police investigation into the supply of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine.
The men were involved in the supply of cocaine between Bristol and South Wales, with police seizing 6kg of the class A drug during the course of their investigation. The cocaine has an estimated street value of £250,000-600,000.
David Griffiths, 50, and Hamse Mohamod, 37, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine. Ilyas Osoble, 39, and 32-year-old taxi driver Faysal Hussein-Abdalla were found guilty of the same offence following a trial.
Police officers observed Mohamod and Osoble engaging with taxi driver Hussein-Abdalla in Easton on Thursday 18 March. The latter was then followed driving to Newport where he met with the fourth member of the group, as Griffiths handed him half a dozen 1kg bags filled with cocaine.
Hussein-Abdalla was stopped by police on the M4 returning to the West Country and arrested, with the drugs being seized.
The police investigation uncovered text messages and phone calls being made by Osoble and Mohamod following the arrest as they became increasingly concerned about why Hussein-Abdalla was delayed in dropping off the drugs.
All four men involved were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court. Mohamod and Osoble were jailed on Friday 29 October, with the other two in court on Friday 10 December.
Griffiths received a prison sentence of five years and 10 months and Mohamod was jailed for six years and nine months.
Hussein-Abdalla received a four-and-a-half-year sentence and Osoble was handed an eight-year jail term.
Detective Constable Benjamin Rix said: “This month’s sentencing hearing follows a significant police operation targeting individuals seeking to profit from organised crime.
“Cocaine and other illegal substances cause misery to communities and we will continue to do all that we can do to disrupt criminal activity around the supply of such drugs.
“We are grateful for the help of the Crown Prosecution Service and the judge in obtaining convictions and substantial prison sentences for these offenders.”
