Drug dealer used his laundered cash to lead ‘extremely lavish lifestyle’

A heroin dealer who lived “an extremely lavish lifestyle” using more than £300,000 of laundered drug money has been handed another prison sentence. Mahmood Hussain, 45, from Rochdale, was caged for 13 years in 2019 after being convicted and sentenced for supplying heroin with a street value of over six million pounds.

After he was charged with those offences specialist officers immediately began probing his financial affairs, spending months scouring his accounts. They found he owned no houses, earnt “very little” from three car businesses he did own and had virtually no money in his own bank accounts.

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Yet at his home, designer clothes, handbags, shoes and jewellery worth thousands of pounds were all found. It was also discovered he had funded deposits, home improvements and mortgage payments on two houses that were in the names of family members.

These included a jacuzzi walk-in wardrobe filled with designer gear, a jacuzzi bath and an illuminated stairway. A Volkswagen and a high-end Audi RS4 used by Hussain were also registered in other names.

In all he laundered a total of £336,00 – all believed to have been gained through his drug dealing – Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard. Mahmood, of Gowers Street, Rochdale was yesterday, Thursday, April 7, sentenced to two years in prison after admitting three counts of money laundering.

The sentence will run concurrently with his current jail term. Speaking after the case the woman who oversaw the investigation said his crimes were an insult to those living honest lives and struggling to make ends meet during the current cost of living crisis.

Detective Constable Louise Henry, from GMP’s Economic and Cyber Crime Section, said: “Hussain lived an extremely lavish life and lived in a renovated property that had clearly been modified thanks to the huge sums of cash he had through his career as a criminal drug dealer.

“This was a lengthy investigation that has taken two years to bring to the courts after months of meticulous scanning by the team who had to identify where the money was coming from and going to which can be an extremely complicated and long-winded task.

“We will continue to target those who cause the most harm in communities and investigate those who are living lavish lifestyles, funded by criminal means.

“With the current rising cost of living, targeting those who are living luxurious lifestyles funded by criminal means is especially important as those who don’t break the law are simply earning a living as best as they can.

“A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing will be held in due course.”