A cannabis courier who stole back his £30,000 car from a Carlisle compound just hours after being spared prison is now behind bars.
Asif Mahmood, 61, was initially nabbed by Cumbria police on March 3 as he drove north on the M6 in a 22 plate MG.
“Police found six kilograms of cannabis on board the vehicle,” prosecutor Andrew Evans told Carlisle Crown Court today.
Mahmood later admitted possessing the class B drug with intent to supply and in May received a six-month prison sentence which a judge leniently suspended for 18 months.
He was ordered to compete rehabilitation work and community service. He was also banned from driving for six months and deprived of the MG, which was held in a holding facility used by police on the Kingstown Industrial Estate.
But Mr Evans said just two days later, Mahmood visited the Carlisle compound. He showed staff his driver’s licence, an insurance cover note and the V5 owner’s log book — all documents rendered invalid by the court earlier that week.
He persuaded them to release the vehicle – CCTV capturing him driving away – despite being banned and uninsured.
Police later stopped the MG in West Yorkshire where Mahmood was passenger with a male driver who had obtained valid insurance. He was brought back to court, admitting theft and a breach of the suspended jail term.
The court also heard he had received a seven-year prison stretch a decade ago under the name of Mohammed Asif Younas. His offending occurred while he was operating under the alias of Mahmood Ali and a director of law firm Montague Mason Solicitors.
Mr Evans said Mahmood — principal of the practice — lodged 32 separate bogus mortgage applications before £7 million was channelled through 68 different bank accounts with other gang members involved in the illegal enterprise.
Mahmood was reported to have been struck off by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2010, and the solicitors firm was closed down.
Jeff Smith, defending, said Mahmood’s more recent vehicle theft had been foolish and an act of absolute stupidity.
Recorder Tony Hawks jailed Mahmood, of Storths Road, Birkby, Huddersfield, for a total of 12 months.
“I don’t know precisely what has been going on here,” said the judge. “But the fact of the matter is, in total contempt for the suspended sentence order, within a matter of almost hours, you were stealing a vehicle that you had been stopped in, in respect of the drugs offence. It seems to me that offence of theft is a serious matter aggravated by your record for dishonesty.”
