AN ALLEGED drug dealer arrested in a police raid had been working at a Bolton school as a teaching assistant, it has emerged.

Now the member of staff at the Essa Academy in Great Lever has been suspended following his arrest.

As revealed in The Bolton News in February, cannabis and cocaine with a street value of almost £35,000 were seized when police raided an apartment complex in Sharples.

Two men, aged 27 and 38, were arrested on suspicion of possessing class A and B drugs with intent to supply and were bailed pending further inquiries.

It has now emerged that the 38- year-old man is Farruk Hussein, a teaching assistant employed by the Essa Academy in Lever Edge Lane.

Showk Badat, principal of the academy, said: “The natural and proper thing to do in circumstances like this is to suspend any individual so that an investigation can proceed without any impairment or impediment in any way.”

A school source said that Hussein was “an effective and popular individual with both children and adults and worked in a number of areas.”

The source said he was particularly good at teaching PE.

Officers from the Bolton East Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) swooped on the ground-floor flat at the Cottonworks, off Blackburn Road, Sharples, at around 8.30am on Tuesday, February 16.

Police were acting on a tip-off from the community following numerous complaints about suspected drug dealing in nearby Holden Avenue.

Officers carried out a search of the one-bedroom apartment and found about 20 large bags of cannabis, believed to be worth about £31,000, stored in a cubby hole and in kitchen cupboards.

Officers then forced open a safe and discovered about 40g of what is believed to be cocaine, worth nearly £2,000, in individual bags ready for sale. They also seized £2,000 in cash.

The drugs have been sent off for forensic testing. Hussein and the second man answered bail this week.

A police spokesman said: “Both men have been re-bailed for two months. Inquiries are ongoing.”

The academy school opened last year in the former Hayward School building. Academy schools are built using primarily public money but are “sponsored” by a company or organisation, which, for a contribution towards the building, get a large say in the curriculum and design of the school.