Fake Deliveroo Driver Caught with £2.7k Cannabis Haul

A man pretending to be a Deliveroo driver was caught with cannabis worth more than £2,700 in a branded delivery bag. Messages on his phone revealed he had delivered drugs to 11 customers in Cardiff using this method. 📱🚲

Abubaker Abdulrahman, 27, was seen by police officers in Roath on January 5 riding an E-bike near the junction of Monthermer Road. He was carrying a Deliveroo bag on his back and was seen to approach a property in Pen y Wain Road.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday heard the defendant was approached by the officers and detained. His bag was searched and found to contain 49 grip seal bags of cannabis and he was also found with £90 in cash and a Samsung phone.

Prosecutor Jason Howells said the cannabis was weighed at 281g and the value of the drugs was between £1,790 and £2,770. The individual weights of the packages were between 2.2g and 15.23g. Among the items seized were six Cali bags of female flowering head, three cannabis-infused vapes, and caramel fudge brownies with THC content.

The Samsung phone was examined and found to contain messages which indicated the defendant had been involved in 11 deals of cannabis carried out under direction. When interviewed he claimed he had been forced to courier the drugs against his will and was a victim of modern-day slavery but this defence was rejected.

Abdulrahman, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply cannabis. The court heard he has two previous offences neither of which were drug-related.

Defence barrister Martha Smith-Higgins said her client was an asylum seeker having left Iraq in 2020 for his own safety. As a result of his immigration status he was unable to work or claim benefits which left him in financial difficulty.

Judge Paul Hobson sentenced Abdulrahman to 18 weeks imprisonment. The defendant was also disqualified from driving for six months for riding the E-bike without insurance.