Phone records link cabbie to drug operation

AN Oldham taxi driver, alleged to have been involved in a huge drug supply business, was caught out by his mobile phone, a court has been told.

Father of three Afraq Ahmed (31) is said to have been one of many people working under instructions from a father and son who were the masterminds behind the operation.

Ahmed, who worked as a private-hire driver for Village Cars, made three trips to Bristol on behalf of the pair to help set up a deal involving the purchase of 2kg of cocaine.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court was told that unknown to Ahmed and other gang members, undercover police were watching and filming their every move as part of an investigation named Operation Liffey.

Crucial evidence linking him to the business was provided by painstaking analysis of mobile phone calls which the Crown say prove his association with the father and son, Fazal and Faisal Hussain, both of Cranbrook Street, Oldham.

Ahmed, of Grendon Avenue, Oldham, has admitted driving south on June 13 and June 14, 2009, along with a woman also accused of being part of the conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

He maintains that he was simply hired to take the passenger, whom he says he had never met before, to Bristol and back, and had been completely unaware of the criminal reasons for the trips.

He said he was paid £220 per trip, which was too good to pass up, as such fares didn’t crop up every day.

A trial jury heard that analysis of phone records placed Ahmed’s mobile phone in Bristol and show his number was contacted by Faisal Hussain.

After being arrested by police, Ahmed claimed his mobile phone had been lost in October or November of 2008, so he couldn’t have been using it on the days in question.

The prosecution, however, claim he still had it. The number was still logged by his employer at Village Cars as his private contact number, and significantly, the phone was topped up on July 13, 2009, at the Villa General store in Oldham, two minutes after he was seen going into the shop where he was a regular customer.

Ahmed, who claimed in court that he had never had any personal contact with either of the Hussains, is one of five men and one woman on trial for their alleged involvement in the drug supply business.

He pleads not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to supply a Class A drug,

Fazal Hussain (43) and his son, Faisal (20), have already entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to supply drugs including heroin and cocaine, as have two other men.

(Proceeding)