A GOATHERDER from northern Iraq who ended up selling drugs on the streets of Aberystwyth has been jailed.

Swansea Crown Court heard how Hawre Ahmed, 35, had fled to the UK ‘seeking a better life’ but had been recruited by an organised crime gang and ended up as a street seller in Aberystwyth.

The former goatherder, whose father had died in the war in Iraq and who found himself living under Isis occupation, had previously been found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.

Ahmed worked for an organised crime group that used asylum seekers as couriers and dealers and using car washes and barber shops as "front" businesses.

He was living in Newcastle before being taken to Aberystwyth to operate as part of the gang, which included fellow Kurd, Karwan Jabari, who was living in Northampton.

Ahmed and Jabari are the latest members of the gang to be convicted, with a dozen members already behind bars for flooding Aberystwyth with large quantities of cocaine, valued at around £400,000, including one of the three gang leaders, Toana Ahmad, 33, from the West Midlands.

The two other heads of the gang are believed to have fled to Iraq.

The gang embedded trusted operatives in Aberystwyth and used couriers, including taxi drivers, to ferry drugs, cash and people to and from the town, the court heard.

Many of those recruited by the gang were asylum seekers who had been granted leave to remain in the UK and the gang used car wash businesses and barber shops as ‘fronts’.

Ahmed was caught with 41 wraps of cocaine with Jabari being a courier who made several trips between Swansea, the West Midlands and Aberystwyth.

Ahmed operated as a street dealer and was caught carrying an 41 wraps of cocaine while Jabari was a "trusted courier and embedded drug dealer.

Jabari, 26, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.

Ian Ibrahim for Ahmed said his client had only been in Aberystwyth for five days and that he was illiterate, stating that he had his name tattooed on his forearm which he could point to when someone asks him how to spell it.

Jabari’s counsel said he had ‘fallen off the path of goodness’ and was working to ensure he never finds himself in this position again.

Ahmed was sentenced to four years in prison and Jabari to three years in prison.