SHAME SHAME
TWO YEARS’ JAIL FOR BIRMINGHAM PH DRIVER WHO SUPPLIED FOOD TO IMMIGRANTS IN CANNABIS FARM
A hard-up private hire driver delivered food supplies to two Vietnamese illegal immigrants locked in a £650,000 cannabis farm inside an industrial unit. The Hull Daily Mail reports that police working on the drug-busting Operation Galaxy found 1,400 cannabis plants inside the “sophisticated” factory at Carnaby, near Bridlington. The father-of-five made fortnightly journeys from Birmingham to deliver the supplies and was paid £250 a time. Gullam Miah, 54, admitted being involved in producing cannabis in September last year. At an earlier hearing before Hull Crown Court, the two Vietnamese “gardeners”, Phuc Nguyen, 25, and Dihn Nguyen, 28, of no fixed address, were each jailed for 18 months. Nigel Clive, prosecuting, said that it was a large-scale operation and the two men were inside to water the plants. The site was surrounded by a
large metal fence and was secured by a padlock to a gate.
Miah was stopped in a car near the industrial unit at the same time as the police raids began. He had frozen food, fertiliser and a large gas bottle. He had a key that fitted the security gate. “The defendant maintained he was simply delivering frozen food and knew nothing of the cannabis,” said Mr Clive. Miah had clearly been given a “position of trust” within the operation. “He had been trusted with the keys to the operation. He must have had some awareness and understanding of the scale of the operation,” added Mr Clive. Ayoub Khan, mitigating, said that Miah was a private hire driver and had no previous convictions. He had a key to
the gates but not to the unit inside. He claimed that when he arrived he would call his contact in Birmingham, who would ring the gardeners to open up. Miah did this for about three months, essentially as a courier. He had a gambling addiction and became involved in the cannabis operation after talking to somebody in a bookmakers. He found himself in a desperate financial state after a shortage of pri- vate hire work because of the pandemic. He had a mortgage. “He did what he did in order to make ends meet,” said Mr Khan. Recorder Peter Makepeace QC said: “You were motivated by significant financial advantage. You were in receipt of £250 per trip. “There is no way anybody would pay someone £250 simply to deliver food. “It was a calculated cost-benefit analysis by you to support this operation.” Miah was jailed for two years.
GLASGOW CAB DRIVER LOSES LICENCE AFTER HE PUNCHED AND THREATENED HIS PARTNER
A cab driver who threatened his ex partner and falsely claimed that his parents had died to obtain money from her, has lost his licence. GlasgowLive reports that in July this year James Strachan was convicted for being in possession of a knife unlawfully between December 2019 and September 2020 as well as domestic abuse. Strachan was ordered to complete a community payback order under supervision for 12 months and carry out 150 hours’ unpaid work in that time. He was placed under a restriction of liberty order and instructed to remain in his house each day between the hours of 9am and 3pm and was issued a non harassment order for five years which prevents him from approaching,
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contacting or communicating with his ex partner in any way. Mr Strachan was invited to attend Glasgow City Council’s licensing com- mittee recently, as his private hire car driver’s licence was up for renewal, to explain himself but failed to show up. A spokeswoman for Police Scotland explained that at at least four addresses in Glasgow the applicant engaged in a course of behaviour which was abusive to his ex partner, where he repeatedly phoned, text and asked to rekindle their previous relationship. He repeatedly attended [at her home] uninvited and refused to desist. He also turned up at the home address of family members and demanded money from her.
Strachan would then show up on the woman’s street and stare in through the windows, threaten to self harm and falsely claimed that his parents had passed away to persuade her to provide him with money. He pursued her, punched her on the head and threw her to the ground. Police Scotland also told how the applicant behaved in an abusive manner which was likely to cause a reasonable person fear and alarm where he shouted and made threats towards a person. He destroyed the property belonging to another and did on two occasions puncture the tyres of a car with a knife. Following the objection from police, councillors refused to renew Strachan’s licence.
OCTOBER 2021
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