Birmingham man Hemant Patel jailed for six years for drug offences

Hemant Patel, from Handsworth, was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court of five counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and one count of possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply.
There will now be Proceeds of Crime (POCA) hearing to deal with over £120,000 worth of assets which were seized by police during their investigation.
Patel was arrested in July 2010 following a search warrant which was executed at an address in Woodstock Road, Handsworth.
Found at the address was £2450 of heroin, £1250 of crack cocaine and £900 of benzocaine a pharmaceutical drug used as a bulking agent for cocaine and heroin. There is no recognised legal use for benzocaine in non prepared formats. £11,000 in cash was also seized.
Following investigations, a further £120,000 of assets was discovered and a POCA Restraint Order was sought for and obtained at Birmingham Crown Court.
Police executed a further search warrant at the address in November 2010 and this time recovered £1300 of crack cocaine, £1300 of heroin and 1270 millilitres of methadone, a quantity of cannabis along with a further £3000 in cash.
Patel was arrested and again and was charged with 5 counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and 1 count of possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply.
DCI Simon Wallis from Force CID said: “We welcome this result- the case came to trial at Birmingham Crown Court and the jury took one hour to convict him on all six counts and Patel was sentenced. There is also £120,000 of assets under restraint with a POCA hearing to follow.”