Abhad Ahmed, a Middlesbrough cabbie, admitted carrying and dealing crack cocaine and was jailed after police found drugs hidden in his underwear.
A drug dealing taxi driver says he was paid for his illegal work in drugs. Abhad Ahmed, 38, accepted wages in the form of crack cocaine to feed his addiction, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Ahmed says he started taking drugs to help him deal with the stress of being diagnosed with cancer, six years ago. The cabbie is now in remission from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – but he is starting his first prison sentence, and his offending has cost him “his wife, his job and his home”.
On Friday, the court heard that Ahmed was stopped by police while driving his taxi, on June 19, 2024. He failed a roadside drugs test and police found over 1K of cocaine in his footwell.
Ahmed had been driving around with 8.4grams of crack cocaine – worth almost £1,000 – stuffed down his underwear. James Yearsley, prosecuting, said that hundreds of pounds of cocaine, separated into individual bags, were found in the taxi; and Ahmed had £400 in cash in his pockets.
The taxi driver was arrested and granted bail while police investigated further. But the following year, on October 25, Mr Yearsley said, the cabbie was spotted selling drugs in a Volkswagen Golf.
Ahmed drove off after a drug user left his vehicle – but the police followed him as he headed into a KFC drive thru. Officers arrested him for a second time. Ahmed was searched and Mr Yearsley said that four small plastic bags of cocaine were found in his socks; and a further 32 bags of individual cocaine deals, totalling £680, were found in the car.
Ahmed, of Roman Road in Linthorpe, Middlesbrough pleaded guilty to two counts of the possession of a class A drug with intent in 2024 and 2025, at an earlier hearing. In mitigation, David Taylor told the court that his client had not made any profit from the illegal couriering and drug dealing. “He was paid in crack cocaine, to which he was addicted,” Mr Taylor said. “He also used it to medicate for his cancer.”
The court heard that Ahmed has been stripped of his taxi licence but has a job on a construction site lined up for when he is released. Since he was arrested and taken into prison on remand, Mr Taylor said, he has “lost his wife, and house”.
Judge Nathan Moxon told Ahmed that while he accepted he had started taking drugs when he was diagnosed with cancer and that the diagnosis had been “devastating” for him – “many people are diagnosed with cancer and they don’t deal drugs”. The judge jailed Ahmed for three years. He will serve 40% of his sentence in prison.
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