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08
Oct
Albanian asylum seeker running cocaine in Harrogate jailed
An Albanian asylum seeker who was running drugs in a Mercedes C-Class has been jailed for 14 months.
Edjan Cengu, 20, from Harrogate, was driving the luxury car along Grainbeck Lane, Killinghall, when police in a marked car switched on the blue lights, York Crown Court heard.
Initially, Cengu, who was making a call on his mobile, didn’t stop, but eventually pulled over and was arrested.
Prosecutor Andrew Semple said police found 20 bags of cocaine hidden in Cengu’s boxer shorts. They weighed 10 grammes and had a street value of between £600 and £1,000.
They also seized £300 cash and two iPhones from the Albanian national, whose immigration status was uncertain.
Mr Semple said that Cengu “initially ignored” the blue lights when police tried to pull him over at about 3.45pm on July 4.
He added:
The officer had to repeat the request a number of times (before Cengu pulled up).
He said that Cengu, who initially gave police a false name, had no insurance or licence to drive the blue Mercedes.
Cengu, whose last registered address was Grove Park Terrace, Harrogate, was charged with possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply and possession of criminal property, namely the £300 cash.
He admitted the offences on the basis that he wasn’t a street dealer but a drug courier, “transporting both drugs and the money to an unnamed (man), to pay off an unspecified debt”.
The prosecution accepted this on a “pragmatic” basis and Cengu, who arrived in the UK in November 2022, appeared for sentence today.
Grainbeck Lane, Killinghall
Mr Semple said that Cengu appeared to have been operating “under direction” of others higher up the drug chain.
He added that Cengu, who was assisted by an interpreter in court, arrived in the UK about two years ago when he made an asylum claim “then disappeared”.
Claimed asylum then 'disappeared'
Defence barrister David Hall said that Cengu – who also has connections to Uxbridge in West London – was “effectively homeless in this country” and his “prospects were bleak”.
Cengu had told a probation officer that the debt he was paying off was due to being trafficked to the UK.
Judge Simon Hickey told Cengu:
You entered the UK in November 2022, claimed asylum and then disappeared.
You are not entitled to any benefits and that may explain why you were carrying drugs and money, as your basis of plea says.
You were transporting the drugs for someone who you feared to name, and you were working to pay off an unspecified debt.
Mr Hickey noted that Cengu had made a phone call when he saw police were on his tail.
He said:
The common-sense inference (being) that you must have been talking to somebody who is much more responsible for the drugs, warning him that you were about to be arrested.
Cengu received a 14-month jail sentence, but under new legislation to counter the overcrowding in British prisons, he will only serve 40 per cent of that time behind bars before being released on licence.
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