Bolton drug dealers caught with crack cocaine and heroin

Bolton Crown Court heard how 18-year-old Fami Ahmed still had wraps of the drugs in his hands when officers swooped on the hired Audi A1 car he and his accomplice Ainsley Boothe had parked up.

Several phones were also found and over £1,000 in cash. 

The pair were both jailed after admitting possession with intent to supply.

Kelly Cyples, prosecuting, told how police, on an operation designed to tackle drug dealing in the School Hill on February 16, were patrolling the area when they spotted the Audi at 5.45pm.

Miss Cyples said the vehicle was being driven fast, weaving in and out of traffic on Blackburn Road and followed it until it came to a halt in Newton Walk.

“The officers saw a congregation of people who were suspected of being drug users stood at the corner,” she said, adding that after spotting a woman running from the car back to the group, the officers decided to act.

They blocked the Audi in and ran to the vehicle, flinging open the driver and passenger doors.

“In the front passenger seat was Mr Ahmed. He was sat with an open food bag containing a large number of individually wrapped crack cocaine and heroin prepared street deals,” said Miss Cyples, who added that the drugs were valued at about £2,000.

Police also found a phone on his lap, another phone and £1,000 in pockets, and a kitchen knife, which Ahmed claimed was “for protection”.

Fami Ahmed

Boothe, aged 27, was driving the car and shouted to Ahmed, “Don’t speak to them. Don’t say anything until you speak with your solicitor.”

Boothe was holding a phone and two further phones were found on the driver’s seat and footwell as well as a bag of coins in the centre console.

As well as the two men pleading guilty to drug-dealing offences and possessing criminal property, Ahmed, of Bashall Street, Bolton, admitted possessing a knife and Boothe admitted breaching a suspended prison sentence which had been imposed only two months earlier after he assaulted a police officer.

READ MORE: Ainsley Boothe attacked police officer

Michael Johnson, defending Ahmed, stressed that he had no previous convictions and had fallen into drug dealing after associating with people he bought cannabis from.

“Plainly he didn’t have the wherewithal to understand the direction in which his life was going,” said Mr Johnson.

“He is the youngest child from a good family. The defendant’s mother, he accepts, is very disappointed in him. He has let his family down.”

Helen Williams, defending Boothe, said that, at the time of the offence, he was mourning his grandfather, who had died from Covid and had stopped taking medication for an old brain injury.

Ainsley Boothe

“He was offered the chance to make a bit of money and, stupidly, he agreed,” she said.

The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh, sentenced Ahmed to 30 months in a young offenders’ institution and Boothe to prison for 40 months as well as activating the12-week suspended sentence.

He told the pair: “Anybody will appreciate the devastating effect the supply of controlled drugs has upon individuals.