What he did in 2019 'came back to bite him' after years on run

THE DRUG DEALER WAS CAUGHT WITH A 'PARTY PACK' OF COCAINE AND MDMA DOWN HIS TROUSERS AFTER HE WAS SEEN 'CONSTANTLY PLACING HIS HANDS NEAR HIS CROTCH' 04:00, 21 May 2025 A

"party pack" of cocaine and MDMA found down a drug dealer's trousers has finally "come back to bite him" after he spent more than five years on the run. Awale Ahmed

was caught with the illegal package back in 2019 after police spotted him "constantly placing his hands near his crotch" in his car. Having subsequently failed to show up for his

day in court, he moved from Merseyside to Birmingham, went to college, was married and then got divorced. Now "older and wiser" and with ambitions to "lead an honest

life" as a bus driver, his past has now caught up with him and led him to prison. Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, that police on patrol in Liverpool city

centre stopped Ahmed's white Ford Focus on Berry Street on February 1 2019. The now 29-year-old, of Holland Street in Kensington, was described as "seeming nervous" and

"constantly placing his hands down near his crotch area", with officers also noting a strong smell of cannabis. Olivia Belle, prosecuting, detailed how a bag of cocaine was

thereafter recovered from his back pocket. When asked whether he had any further drugs upon his person, Ahmed then lifted up his jacket in order to produce a further package from his

waistband and said: "It's just a party pack." This was subsequently found to contain quantities of both cocaine and MDMA. A search of his home address thereafter saw

paraphernalia, including a set of scales, recovered by PCs, while "multiple messages" advertising drugs for sale were also discovered on his mobile phone. Ahmed had been due to

appear before Sefton Magistrates' Court in relation to this matter on August 18 2020, but a warrant for his arrest was issued after he failed to appear on this date. Another arrest

warrant had earlier been issued in his name after he did not turn up for a previous court hearing on November 4 2019, relating to breaches of a suspended sentence order he was handed in 2018

for possession of a class B drug with intent to supply after he skipped three appointments with the Probation Service in August and September 2019. Article continues below The defendant was

ultimately arrested on April 18 this year when he was spotted by PCs on Lodge Lane in Toxteth. Ahmed has a total of eight previous convictions for nine offences dating back to 2009,

including an earlier entry for possession of cannabis with intent to supply in 2015. Ken Heckle, defending, told the court: "What essentially happened, in simple terms, is that his last

drugs conviction in 2018 led to people coming back to him again and saying 'you have got to start dealing again'. He is not saying that he was forced or anything of that ilk, but

he felt pressured, in his mind, that he should cooperate with that. "It is low level dealing. He says that he was given a phone and some drugs. As a result of that, he then took the

decision that has come back to bite him today. He did not want to continue. The only way he could think of doing it was leaving the area. "He goes to Birmingham. For the last five or

six years, he has either been in Birmingham or Liverpool. He has had casual work and cash in hand jobs, but also official jobs at factories and warehouses in his correct details. "He

has done qualifications. He has been to college and done a course with Liverpool Council. He has got a security qualification. He even got married in 2020. In 2023, sadly, he was divorced.

"He would like the court to accept that he is a changed man. He is wiser. He is older. He has led a pretty blameless working life and wanted to better himself. He wants to do this

sentence. He will no longer have the associates and problems which befell him on the last occasion. Article continues below "He talks about wanting to do a HGV qualification or bus

driving. He wants to lead an honest, industrious life as he has tried to do for the last five or six years. He asks the court to pass a sentence that gives him some hope for the future,

rather than crushing his resolve." Ahmed admitted possession of cocaine and MDMA with intent to supply and two counts of breaching a suspended sentence order. Appearing via video link

to HMP Liverpool wearing a light blue t-shirt and sporting short dark hair and a beard, he was jailed for three-and-a-half years. Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "You absconded

and decided to take yourself away from the area. It was a deliberate decision. You have kept out of trouble, and you have been in work."