Swindon drug dealer’s £50k empire comes crashing down after Mercedes crash

Neil Thakrar had built up an enterprise supplying cannabis and later cocaine to his friends and acquaintances.

But when he crashed in April 2020, he was forced to hide a duffel bag full of illicit goods in a nearby woodlands, which was later found by police sniffer dogs.

More than £200 of cocaine and £40 of herbal cannabis was found in the bag.

Swindon Crown Court heard on Monday (August 8) that the dealing was out of “greed”, with Judge James Townsend concluding: “It’s a tragedy you’re here.

Neil Thakrar

“This was deliberate and planned behaviour, with no pressing need to make money in this way.”

Thakrar was jailed for 24 months.

Prosecutor Ian Fenny had earlier told the court that officers found a number of bags and £680 in cash from the car, as well as almost £10,000 of money from Thakrar’s home plus five designer watches.

The now 27-year-old refused to provide the PIN to his iPhone, Mr Fenny told the court, meaning it “took some considerable period of time before police could” break into it.

“The account that he gave to the police about the drugs and the money proved to be untruthful,” the prosecutor continued. “He said the drugs were for personal use and the money seized were for savings.”

Mr Fenny added that just over £52,000 in “unexplained credits” had been identified in his bank account and had he successfully hid the duffel bag in the woods, “it is highly unlikely his enterprise would have been uncovered at that stage”.

Defending, Matthew Harbinson said that most deals were of cannabis and between him and his friends, and he started supplying cocaine at their request.

He said Thakrar, of Whitworth Road, has an “unfortunate background” as he was taught in wholesale purchasing by his father, and then at University. Mr Harbinson said it lent itself to commercial awareness and running a successful criminal enterprise.

“The usual way in which drug operations are conducted is as far removed as one could find in this case.

“What Mr Thakrar has done is he has steadily developed from using drugs himself, to purchasing drugs to be shared amongst him and his friends, to contacts he has developed whilst resident in Birmingham.”

A pre-sentence report from the probation service found that Tharkar “did not set out to harm anyone”, was focusing on a “better quality” of drugs for he and his friends, to fund his habit, and did not sell to those with addictions.

Mr Harbinson concluded that he is no longer recreationally taking drugs and is buckling down with his career.

The defendant pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis and cocaine, and possession of criminal property.

Sentencing, Judge Townsend said that although his enterprise started off with cannabis and the bulk of transactions were the Class B drug, that did not mean the presence of cocaine dealing was less serious.

“You’re an intelligent man with no previous relevant convictions and in many ways it is a tragedy you’re here,” he told the defendant, who stood in the dock flanked by a single security guard.

“This was deliberate and planned behaviour, with no pressing need to make money in this way, and you also tried to conceal what you had done when police caught you.”

Thakrar was jailed for two years and four months, whilst the drugs and paraphernalia was forfeited and destroyed.