Sophia Dower was instructed to act on behalf of Abubakr Khawar, the first defendant out of eleven, in a large-scale, complex conspiracy to import and supply cannabis.
AK was identified as the ringleader of an organised crime group which imported and supplied high-grade cannabis from the USA over a two year period. The cannabis was carefully concealed and imported using ordinary parcel delivery services, such as Royal Mail. The packages were delivered to approximately 80 addresses across South Wales and then collected by the gang to be stored at their stash-house before onward supply.
Given the sheer scale of the operation, the Prosecution did not seek to put a definitive figure on the volume of cannabis imported/supplied. However, UK Border Force intercepted 327kg of cannabis intended for delivery with a street value of up between £7 – £11 million. In addition, discarded packaging from the stash-house suggested around 58kg of cannabis was imported over just 10 days. Taking a conservative estimate of just one-third of this volume over a 2 year period, at least 696kg could be said to have been safely imported. This figure dwarfed the 200kg indicative starting point for Category 1 cases on the Sentencing Guidelines.
On behalf of the defence, Sophia successfully argued that the original four count indictment should be stayed on the basis it alleged both conspiracy and substantive counts resulting in a two-count indictment being preferred. Moreover, despite AK not giving any indication of guilt in the Magistrates Court, only entering his guilty pleas at the adjourned PTPH and later withdrawing his basis of plea, Sophia managed to persuade the Sentencing Judge to award her client the maximum one-third credit available. AK was sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment for both counts.
Sophia was instructed by Hojol Uddin of JMW Solicitors
The case was widely reported in the press and can be accessed here at: BBC News, The Telegraph & MSN.
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