GUILTY: Mohamed Pour will be deported after he has served his prison term

A DRUGS mastermind was jailed for 14 years and his accomplices are facing jail after being convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Mohamed Pour, 44, described by Judge Christopher Harvey Clark QC as "a clever and arrogant man" was found guilty by a jury at Bournemouth Crown Court yesterday.

Fellow defendants Fathi Dridi of Borthwick Road, and Haider Mirzayari, 32, of Queens Park Gardens, who drove Pour between drug deals, and Pour's girlfriend Cheryl Lawes of Cavendish Road, will be sentenced later.

Abbas Tari, 58, and Mehdi Khoshnevis, 45, were acquitted.

Judge Harvey Clark QC said police carried out "a brilliantly executed surveillance operation" lasting two months. He singled out for praise Bournemouth officers DS Phil Swanton, DS Andy Dilworth, Acting SS Gavin Dudfield and DC Martin Farrington.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Mirzayari leapt from a balcony and crashed through a conservatory below when police raided the "safehouse" at Manor Road, Bournemouth last May.

A thorough search of the premises revealed almost a kilo of cocaine, with a street value of more than £35,000, plus £9,000 in cash. Police had previously raided the Cavendish Road home of Pour and Lawes and found no trace of cocaine but £16,000 in cash which they believed had come from the sale of drugs.

The investigation, part of Operation Dismantle, involved 15-20 detectives per day and saw police uncover "an overwhelming body of evidence".

Recommending that he be deported at the end of his sentence, Judge Harvey Clark QC told Pour: "In my judgement you are a clever and arrogant man who has learned nothing from your previous court appearances."

7:00pm Tuesday 5th February 2008

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