Dudley drug trafficker told his four-year jail term is fair
A member of a drugs gang that trafficked £500,000 of cannabis between the West Midlands and Devon has been told his jail term was not a day too long.
Lavir Sakaj, aged 33, was part of an 'organised crime group', from the Dudley area, involved in ferrying large quantities of drugs to another criminal gang in Devon between February 2015 and January last year.
Sakaj, of Manor Park, Kingswinford, was jailed for four and a half years in January this year at Plymouth Crown Court.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis and possessing criminal property.
At London's Criminal Appeal Court, Lord Justice Holroyde heard him argue that he was treated too harshly.
The judge, sitting with Mrs Justice Whipple and Mr Justice Goose, said the gangs had co-operated to organise 'at least six deliveries' of drugs from the West Midlands to Devon, over an 11-month period.
The drugs weighed a total of about 50kg and were worth around half a million pounds on the street.
Sakaj was sentenced on the basis that he had a 'leading, significant role' in the West Midlands gang.
The Crown's case was that he took over the running of that end of the operation after the original boss left the country.
Lawyers for Sakaj argued that his seniority in the gang had been over-estimated.
But, throwing out his challenge, Lord Justice Holroyde said that drugs gangs don't always have just one 'leader'.
"The sentence imposed could not be described as excessive, let alone manifestly excessive, and this appeal is dismissed," he concluded.
