A GANGSTER'S girlfriend lived a glamorous life from the spoils of the pair's cocaine and heroin empire before it all came crashing down.
Szenm Asghar, 37, was jailed along with her criminal husband Rashid Hussain, 35, after running their £24,000-a-month "illicit enterprise".
Asghar abandoned a career in corporate banking with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest to run the massive drugs operation named "Sniper".
The couple flooded the streets of Rochdale with cocaine and heroin which allowed them to live extravagantly, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.
Asghar and Hussain sat alongside each other in the dock at Manchester Crown Court to face justice for their dealing racket on the "Sniper" drugs line.
Their home was searched in an early morning raid as part of a police operation targeting "turf wars" between rival drugs gangs in Rochdale, prosecutors said.
In the house police found more than £20,000 in cash, designer clothes for men and women worth almost £18,000, and a number of Rolex watches.
And inquiries revealed the couple received at least £34,000 in income from their racket over one six week period.
At the time Hussain was claiming Universal Credit, but cops uncovered voice notes boasting about his income.
Mobile devices seized were found to contain 'marketing' text messages sent out in bulk to their vulnerable customers, advertising their stock as well as voice notes of Hussain flaunting his cash.
A mobile video caught him flaunting huge wads of cash and boasting: "This money has made me" as a friend said: "Oh yeah! Alright!"
During the exchange, Hussain, in an apparent reference to the hugely successful boxer Floyd Mayweather, said: "They'll call me Money f***ing Rash won't they? Like Money Mayweather."
Prosecutor Jeremy Lasker said: "All of them, say the prosecution, are inconsistent with a man living on benefits."
Following the raid, Hussain was remanded in custody, but Asghar was released on bail.
The glamorous wife said said she'd been in a relationship with Hussain for two years, and claimed she knew he was unemployed but "didn't know where he got his money from".
But she carried on dealing after going to live with family in Bury.
In March this year police visited the property in Brierley Street and seized a "substantial" amount of cocaine and heroin, as well as almost £15,000 in cash.
In all, detectives found 275 wraps of heroin and 174 wraps of cocaine, as well as £2,390 in cash in an envelope, £2,595 and almost £10,000 stashed inside two scarves, and a further £475.
A black Nokia phone was also found with references to the "Sniper" drugs line.
Asghar told police that when Hussain was locked up, she was told that "money was owed" and she "felt she had no choice" but to take on the drug dealing operation.
Defending Asghar, Gerard Doran said she had received threats and acted out of "misguided loyalty to her husband".
He added that she is genuinely remorseful and her actions were "out of character".
Asghar was jailed for three years and four months at Manchester Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group, two counts of possession of criminal property and two counts of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply.
Richard Simons, defending Hussain, said he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
Hussain admitted possessing criminal property, and two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs. He was jailed for seven-and-a-half years
Sentencing, Judge Nicholas Dean KC told them: "You Rashid Hussain are a long standing dealer in class A drugs, it seems to me for a period of approximately 15 years you have been engaged in dealing in heroin and cocaine as a business.
"You to a certain extent enjoyed a reasonable lifestyle as a consequence of your dealing in drugs.
"You Ms Asghar were the wife of Rashid Hussain, I accept that to a not insignificant extent you were influenced by your husband, but you knew the type of man he was.
"You have benefited from it, you have benefited from the possession of proceeds of crime.
"You in effect continued his business or at least participated in what had been his business."
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