Drug trafficking plot: Rotherham man guilty

Omar Sadique (29), of Regent Street, Kimberworth, was convicted at the end of a five-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court, of assisting in the supply of controlled drugs and conspiracy.

The jury took nearly three days of deliberations to reach their verdict.

Sentencing has now been adjourned until tomorrow.

His co-accused, Zakir Hussain (29), of Ferham Road, Rotherham who had also denied assisting in the supply of controlled drugs was cleared.

The two men had been on trial with five others from other parts of the country.

The court has been told that a clocktower on land at a farm near Sittingbourne in Kent was used to store chemicals which included lidocaine, benzocaine, caffeine and phenacitin.

During the hearing prosecutor, Alistair Walker told the jury that all the defendants played “significant and varied organised roles” in the supply of Class A drugs in the UK .

He said that the cutting agents were an integral part of drug trafficking and continued:

“What is revealed in this case is a supply chain that runs from the national distribution of cutting agents, both direct to the drugs trade and to regional suppliers of cutting agents in Kent and on to local cutters and suppliers of cocaine.”