Burnley brothers jailed for supplying heroin

Mohammed Haider Rasool (23) was jailed for five years and one month and Mohammed Omar Rasul (28) to five years and four months.

The town’s crown court was told how Rasul was the main man and netted £35,000. He got the low purity heroin and organised its division and transfer to dealers who would separate it into wraps for sale on the streets. Rasool, who had just come out of jail in December, after being convicted of possessing heroin with intent to supply and was on licence, bagged the drugs. Rasool was recalled to prison on his arrest.

The brothers, who lived with their mother in Claughton Street, were said to have “pestered” their sister Amna Rasul (29) to let them use her Cleaver Street home, where she lived with her daughter, to divide and store the heroin. Another property in Cleaver Street, the home of a man who has since died, was also a drugs bagging base.

The operation was later run from a £57,000 empty property a few hundred metres away in Colbran Street, for which Amna Rasul got a £41,000 mortgage, despite being jobless and a “single mother” as her husband was in Pakistan. Mohammed Rasul paid the £213 monthly instalments with drugs money, the court heard.

The hearing was told the trio were caught after police surveillance started last December, targeting Cleaver Street and Colbran Street. They were arrested in February. The brothers made no comment while their sister denied any involvement in the supply of drugs. She got 52 weeks in prison, suspended for a year, with 12 months supervision.

Paul Murphy (prosecuting) said when police searched bins at Amna Rasul’s home, they found a large amount of drugs packaging, latex gloves with heroin on and 40 twisted bags.

In February, the operation moved to Colbran Street, where police saw the brothers going into an empty house. On February 9th, officers raided all the houses with which the defendants and their family were connected.

Mr Murphy said at Amna Rasul’s house they found a baseball bat, a knife with drugs on and digital scales. At the brothers’ home they found £7,000 cash, grocery bags used for heroin wraps, a stun gun, balaclavas and cash. In the Colbran Street house, police discovered drugs paraphernalia and a 530g heroin stash, worth more than £26,000, below floorboards in a bedroom.

Mohammed Nawaz (defending Mohammed Rasul) said he realised he had brought shame on himself and his family. Defending Mohammed Rasool, Jamie Hamilton said his role was significantly less than his brother’s but added: “It’s an aggravating feature he committed the offence on licence.”

Sentencing, Judge Beverly Lunt told Mohammed Rasul: “Anybody who sees dealing in drugs as a good business venture and somehow attractive must also see if they are caught they are going to go to prison for a very, very long time.”