Two men sentenced after drugs recovered from car in Sileby

Two Loughborough men found in a vehicle with drugs and cash have been sentenced at court.

On the evening of Monday 27 December 2021, officers from the force’s Specialist Support Department received information that a vehicle connected to county lines drug offending was travelling through the city centre.

Suspecting the car would make its way outside of the city, officers from within the unit strategically placed themselves on arterial routes moving out into the county and the car was picked up travelling towards Loughborough.

The vehicle stopped in the Sileby area and Koyesh Miah, 35, of Queens Road, Loughborough and Novinur Chowdhury, 25, of Alan Moss Road, Loughborough, were both arrested from the vehicle.

A quantity of cash was found on Chowdhury while drugs were found on Miah and they were later charged with possession with intent to supply a controlled class A drug namely crack cocaine and possessing criminal property.

They appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Friday (3 February) where they were sentenced after pleading guilty to all charges at a previous hearing.

Miah was given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years while Chowdhury was given a total of two years and six months in prison.

Novinur Chowdhury

Sergeant Steve Jackson, from the Specialist Support directorate, said: “The decision to not stop the car in the city there and then allowed us to track it to an area we suspected it was linked to and as a result, strengthen our evidence around this particular vehicle and its connection to a specific drugs line. Following a subsequent search of an address linked to the defendants, we were able to seize in total over £3,000 in cash and drugs with a street value of around £5,000.

“Officers from the Specialist Support Directorate will continue to work together to target those connected to criminality and those causing harm to the communities of Leicestershire and Rutland.”

Detective Constable Jack Walters, who lead the investigation, added: “This investigation turned into a significant team effort by colleagues within Charnwood CID who have compiled the case together along with the support of other specialist departments.

“Our work to tackle county lines remains very much part of our daily business and we continue to arrest and investigate those who commit these offences.”