Mazhar Abbas, 47yrs, is currently serving a 12 year and six months prison sentence after being convicted in April 2018 for his part in a conspiracy to traffic 40 kilos of heroin across West Yorkshire. He was arrested in November 2017 as part of Operation Rangeland – an operation led by the north east Regional Organised Crime Unit. On Friday 26 March 2021, a judge at Bradford Crown Court rejected an argument that Abbas’s house belonged to a family member, and granted a confiscation order, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, to the amount £108,881. The court also made a Compliance Order under the same Act, which forces a defendant to be transparent when selling the property. Failure to do so is treated as contempt of court. Ramona Senior, head of the Regional Economic Crime Unit said: “Abbas played his part in bringing misery to the streets of West Yorkshire. “Now, as well as serving a significant sentence, he has lost his assets. This demonstrates our determination to bring confiscation proceedings against convicted drug traffickers. “A similar fate awaits anyone tempted to follow this path”.
