A ‘BRAZEN’ drug dealer caught with cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis near Oxford’s Covered Market has been jailed.

Shohaib Ahmed, of Harcourt Terrace, Oxford, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to being involved in supplying the drugs to get himself out of debt from his own addiction to cocaine in December last year.

Murtazar Ahmed, of Swinburne Road, Oxford was also sentenced for possession of cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis, over the same incident.

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Jonathan Stone, for the prosecution, told the court police had been told about the two men by a paramedic who had seen ‘something going on’ in Market Street, near the Covered Market, on December 8 at around 12.40am.

He added: “They said there were lads being ‘rather cocky’ and smoking cannabis.”

Officers walked down the city centre street and came across a silver VW hire car,Mr Stone stating: “The type is often used in the supply of drugs.”

He added, on approaching, police were struck by an ‘overwhelming’ smell of cannabis.

They first talked to Murtazar Ahmed, a 29-year-old labourer, who had a spliff in his hand and admitted he had MDMA (another name for ecstasy) when searched.

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Inside the car there was cannabis, as well as the pair’s passports and £165.

When police then searched Shohaib they found he had ‘a large amount of cash’, subsequently found to be just over £800, plus a couple of mobile phone.

Mr Stone said a black Nokia contained a slew of drug-related messages and even had a ‘marketing text’ saved in the drafts with special offers to send to the contacts.

There was also a list on the phone of names and amounts owed.

Gordana Turudija-Austin, in mitigation, said Shohaib Ahmed came from a ‘loving and supportive’ family but had developed an addiction to cocaine that left him unable to keep a job and eventually ‘succumbed’ to dealing to pay off mounting debts.

She said he had been working for his uncle but suffered from asthma and sometimes severe eczema which caused him to stop.

Ms Turudija-Austin added his mother had been diagnosed with cancer last year and he had been struggling to cope.

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Judge Ian Pringle QC said the 25-year-old was ‘intelligent’ and ‘knew full well’ the consequences of his actions.

Dismissing calls from his barrister for a suspended sentence, he said: “Those who deal drugs on the streets of Oxford will go to prison.”

He added the actions of both men had been 'brazen'.

Shohaib Ahmed was sentenced to 21 months for each Class A drugs and six months for the cannabis. These sentences will run concurrently.

Murtazar Ahmed, who had more than a dozen previous offences, was fined £500 for possession of the ecstasy, the same for the cocaine, and £250 for the cannabis.