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[19 JUL 00] CRIMES,
FIRES & ACCIDENTS
Dealer's
Cash Stash Handed To Police
Police have been given £57,000
that was found on a Coventry drug dealer caught with more than £600,000
of illegal substances.
A judge at Wolverhampton
Crown Court ruled yesterday that the money in Stephen Rouse’s
possession should be passed on the police.
Two cars, one a
high-performance Ford Sierra Cosworth, were also seized.
Rouse, aged 36, from Stoke
Aldermoor, was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment in May after
being convicted of possessing drugs with intent to supply.
He was arrested on two
separate occasions by police last year: in Stoke Row in a car
repair centre in September and a month later a lock-up garage in
Wyken.
Police were amazed when
they found £200,000 of cannabis resin and £400,000 of ecstasy
– around 40,000 tablets on Rouse, along with cash and smaller
amounts of other substances.
They applied to seize the
money under the Drug Trafficking Act and were granted their wish
yesterday.
DS Russ Cotton, who worked
on the lengthy operation to snare Rouse, said:
“I was surprised a
both the amount of drugs and at the amount of money. I’ve
never seen than amount before and it is definitely one of the
biggest seizures in Coventry.
“We are delighted with
both the order and the sentence. It sends a clear message to
Coventry drug dealers that they will receive heavy punishments
and have their assets seized if they are caught.”
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