A playboy crime lord described as having ‘nerves of steel’ is back behind bars for running one of Britain’s biggest rackets trafficking the drug Spice.
Milad Finn, 29, set up and led a gang who created bogus chemical companies to order the ingredients for the narcotics over the internet.
The Iranian-born career criminal – once described by a judge as a ‘highly intelligent playboy with nerves of steel’ – had just been freed early from a six year stretch imposed for running a drugs empire in Manchester.
‘Highly intelligent playboy’ Milad Finn (pictured), 29, set up and led a gang who created bogus chemical companies to order the ingredients for the narcotics over the internet.
He had also previously been accused of the machine gun murder of another man outside a doctor’s surgery only to be acquitted when he insisted he was ‘too busy’ running his drug operation to carry out a gangland execution.
At the time police seized cash from Finn’s bank accounts, plus a VW Golf and Mercedes Benz C230 Kompressor car and jewellery including a Rolex, IWC and Cartier watches. Whilst under surveillance he was seen driving a Jaguar, an Audi and BMW and also squandered tens of thousands of pounds on shopping sprees for designer clothes.
Today Finn, of Head Green near Stockport, was starting a another prison stretch of nine years after police seized 20kg of synthetic cannabis worth £300,000 following a major police operation against organised crime.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce a psychoactive substance, handling stolen goods, encouraging or assisting in the production of Class A or Class B drugs and breaching a serious crime prevention order.
Keith Robinson, 53, of Oldham got six years for conspiracy to produce a psychoactive substance and encouraging or assisting in the production or supply of Class A or B drugs
Jamie English (left), 36, of Royton, Oldham was jailed for 20 months and Hassan Dehani (right), 27, also of Oldham got 17 months after both admitted encouraging or assisting in the production or supply of Class A or Class B drugs
Three of his accomplices were caged for a total of ten years. Keith Robinson, 53, of Oldham got six years for conspiracy to produce a psychoactive substance and encouraging or assisting in the production or supply of Class A or B drugs.
Jamie English, 36, of Royton, Oldham was jailed for 20 months and Hassan Dehani, 27, also of Oldham got 17 months after both admitted encouraging or assisting in the production or supply of Class A or Class B drugs.
Use of Spice – which sells for just £5 a time – has been prevalent in the Manchester area with users rendered virtually immobile by smoking the drug. Locals say part of the city resembles a scene from TV’s The Walking Dead due to the fact many addicts behave like the zombie characters from the show.
Greater Manchester Police said Finn and his gang produced and supplied Spice plus cocaine, and methylampetamine known as Ice. Between July 2016 and March last year the gang sourced the chemicals and equipment needed to produce illegal drugs by establishing companies that could legitimately purchase restricted chemicals.
They used fictional names, as well as email accounts and falsified documents, to disguise their illegal activities and avoid detection by the police. While researching the drug manufacture process online, they also used specialised software designed to block any subsequent forensic examination to cover their ‘digital footprint.’
Milad Finn had first been arrested for murder after 21-year old Junaid Khan (pictured) was cut down in a hail of 16 bullets in Oldham in July 2009. Finn was aquitted.
At his trial in 2011, where he was acquitted, Finn was said to be a ‘hired hitman’ paid by two brothers to kill Khan (pictured) with a Mac-10 machine gun
But police uncovered the plot in raids on homes and industrial units across Oldham and Stockport.
At Robinson’s apartment officers discovered laboratory equipment and chemicals used to manufacture synthetic drugs, as well as a large amount of heroin. Twenty kilograms of Spice were also recovered with a street value of £300,000, making it the forces’ biggest ever seizure of the substance.
Detective Chief Inspector James Faulkner said after the hearing: ‘Finding these men stopped thousands of pounds worth of potentially lethal drugs flooding our streets. They were so committed to producing these dangerous drugs that these men lied and deceived to hide their behaviour, which they knew was breaking the law.
‘It’s thanks to proactive police work that we were able to uncover the dangerous and illegal activities of these men and hold them to account. They will now spend several years behind bars, forced to face the consequences of their deceitful and dangerous drug operation.’
Police investigating the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Junaid Khan. In the days before the shooting the Khan had been fearing for his life and wore a bullet proof vest after he was named as a ‘marked man’ following the disappearance of a £175,000 cannabis crop
Finn had first been arrested for murder after 21-year old Junaid Khan was cut down in a hail of 16 bullets in Oldham in July 2009. In the days before the shooting Khan had been fearing for his life and wore a bullet proof vest after he was named as a ‘marked man’ following the disappearance of a £175,000 cannabis crop.
At his trial in 2011 Finn was said to be a ‘hired hitman’ paid by two brothers to kill Khan with a Mac-10 machine gun. It was claimed he confessed to carrying out the killing to a fellow gangster whilst they were ‘having a moan’ about police.
It was also alleged he used spy-style tracking equipment to remotely stalk Khan before gunning him down. But Finn was cleared by a jury after he said he had been helping an associate involved in another shooting at the time of Khan’s murder. He said he knew nothing of the killing until he saw a news report about it on TV at a gym.
It was alleged Finn used spy-style tracking equipment to remotely stalk Khan before gunning him down. But Finn was cleared by a jury after he said he had been helping an associate involved in another shooting at the time of Khan’s murder
He then made ‘extensive admissions’ to the jury about his drug dealing activities to counter evidence against him. Finn said he became a drug dealer at 15 for a crime boss before setting up on his own.
He went into detail about mixing agents he would buy to maximise his profits and as his orders grew, Finn told the court how he imported large quantities of caffeine and Benzocaine to act as mixing agents and sourced similar products from within the UK.
He said a cash haul seized at his home was drug money and not payment for the murder and said a flurry of mobile phone calls he made at the time of the killing was linked to a heroin deal.
Finn said the spy equipment was part of a schemes to rob other drug dealers and he boasted of making £340,000 from dealing crack cocaine and heroin – even importing material from China to help maximise his profits.
After his acquittal for murder, Finn was rearrested for drug running and was jailed in 2014 by a judge who ordered him to pay back £232,000 from the profits of his crimes. Police said he made £770,000 from his racketeering.
Two other men were also acquitted of Khan’s murder at the trial. No one else has been convicted over the killing.