Reveller and pals plotted to celebrate Muslim holy festival with ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis

Hamza Farooq, 20, of Levenshulme, spared jail over Eid drugs plot

A plot to stock up on club drugs for Eid was foiled when police raided a reveller’s hotel room at a city centre hotel.

Hamza Farooq and pals planned to celebrate the Muslim holy festival with ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis.

But former Stockport College student Farooq ended up spending the festivities under arrest, after officers looking for his suspected dealer raided the scene of the drop-off.

A Manchester Crown Court sentencing hearing was told that officers did not actually find their target when they went to room 429 at Sacha’s Hotel, Tib Street, Manchester in September last year. But they noticed a strong smell of cannabis, and found Farooq in the room in possession of around £1,000 worth of drugs.

The haul included three snapbags of cocaine, 12 bags of MDMA and 21 snapbags of cannabis, prosecutor Philip Dobson said.

Farooq, of Longden Road, Levenshulme, later admitted possessing the drugs with intent to supply, saying he had agreed to pick up for his circle of friends.

At the 20-year-old’s crown court sentencing hearing, David Bentley, defending, said: “He’s thoroughly ashamed. He had volunteered to assist the group celebrations, they were due to meet in the city centre to celebrate the Eid festival, that was the plan that night. 

One of his friends had booked the hotel, it’s clear arrangements had been made to receive the drugs.

“He’s a young man with no previous convictions who became involved in a situation alien to him. He’s now in fear that there may be wider repercussions.”

Judge Andrew Blake, sentencing, challenged the idea that Farooq was ‘naive’, saying he was the group’s ‘go-to’ man for the drugs.

Mr Bentley went on: “He doesn’t fit the profile of those individuals who come before the court regularly. He’s a young man with intelligence, although that clearly failed him. He clearly hadn’t thought through the consequences.

 He’s brought shame upon himself and his family. He’s lost his good name and his good character. He had sought employment in security. That now will be in jeopardy.”

Sentencing, Farooq to 12 months in jail, suspended for 18 months, with a curfew and and unpaid work requirement, Judge Blake told Farooq: “Your friends, for some reason, knew that you were the person who could fix up the drugs.

 You are 20-years-old, good quaifications, a bright lad. If you go down this path all of that will be wasted.”