A WOMAN claimed that more than £10,000 found in the home she shared with her drug-dealing brothers was cash she had saved for a pilgrimage to the Hajj.

Rowshonara Miah said she and her mother had been storing the money in a bedside cabinet because their religion prohibits them earning interest in a bank account.

Miah's brothers, Mohammed Allahuddin and Abbas Miah, were jailed for drug dealing and weapons offences following a raid at their home in December, 2005.

It led to the discovery of crack cocaine worth £52,000, stun guns, pepper spray, a meat cleaver and ammunition in the boot of their car.

The home, in Cross Ormrod Street, Deane, was searched again in April last year.

Police discovered £10,720 in a cupboard in the bedroom shared by Miah and her widowed mother.

A forfeiture order was granted by magistrates last November because they believed the cash was the proceeds of crime.

In an appeal against that order Miah, who has a chemistry degree and works for Ofsted, told Judge Timothy Clayson and two magistrates at Bolton Crown Court that she had been saving the money for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

She claimed the money had been withdrawn from her bank account in small amounts since 1995 as she did not want it "tainted" by receiving interest, which is against her Muslim faith.

Judge Clayson said he did not accept her story as her bank accounts attracted considerable interest.

After dismissing the appeal, he made an order to seize additional money from her brothers.

The judge ruled that Abbas Miah, aged 30, who was jailed for 11 years, had made £14,424 from drug dealing. He must pay police £4,460 or face a further three months in prison.

Mohammed Allahuddin Miah, aged 26, who is serving 13 years, was deemed to have made £13,240 from drug dealing and as he currently has no available assets was ordered to pay a nominal £1 or be jailed for a further seven days.