Mohammed Ashrif, a father of four children, was charged for dealing heroin and cocaine via a small 'Kinder-type' egg. Police were patrolling in an unmarked vehicle when they arrested Ashrif. They observed him in a car, pulling suspiciously up to a man who was walking on the street: “Initially he (Ashrif) refused to open the doors so the window was broken and an officer reached in to remove the ignition keys” the prosecution at Bradford Crown Court said. The court also heard that Ashrif had concealed the class-A drugs in eight little wraps, tucked inside the 'egg'. Another £480 in cash was found separately inside the vehicle.
The 'Kinder-type' egg, worth £100.00 in cash, were part of Ashrif's ongoing drug addiction, the Crown Court heard. Both using and supplying the substances, Ashrif has been in and out of jail since 2005. His defence lawyer argued that he had become addicted to heroine after suffering an ankle injury in the late 1990s and feeling extreme pain since. Barrister Emma Downing stressed to the court that Ashrif's dealings were to fund his own drug addiction and pay off his debts as opposed to building a life of decadence. After an initial release from prison, Ashrif was reportedly drug-free for nearly five years, before again relapsing. Downing, representing her client, said the 46-year old dependent had accumulated a vast debt from cocaine and heroin abuse and underwent great pressure to resort to dealing drugs himself.
Ashrif pled guilty, receiving a reduced jail sentence of three years and four months. The presiding Judge David Hatton QC re-iterated that this would have been five years had he not been more co-operative.
