A former shopkeeper turned drugs kingpin who was busted by cops on a cross-Border run has dodged jail.
Islaam Bashir, 34, was transporting £250,000 of cannabis loaded into suitcases when police pulled over his Audi A4 on the M6 between Kendal and Sedbergh on July 4. Driver Bashir, and his passenger Andrew McQuade, 30, were travelling north of the border with the illegal haul.
The two men were sentenced to 21-months in prison suspended for two years at Carlisle Crown Court. They were also given 250 hours unpaid work and tagged for three months with evening curfews. The court was told when police pulled over the vehicle the two men appeared to be nervous.
Prosecutor Brendan Burke said: “Mr Bashir said that he was going to Glasgow to see a ‘fence’.
“I don’t know what kind of fence, but police weren’t happy with the demeanour of either man. They were nervous.”
Officers searched the Audi and found 25kg of cannabis in the boot, packaged in 1kg amounts. Police estimated the street value as £250,000.
Judge Nicholas Barker noted, given the quantity, there was some awareness by the men of the scale of criminal enterprise in which they were involved. Both Bashir and McQuade admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply.
Neither had previous convictions for drug offences but both dad have unrelated past crimes on their records. Bashir had a 2009 conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a female aged under 16; and, in 2013, one for perverting the course of justice.
McQuade had previous convictions for driving offences, assault and public order. As they were sentenced today, Oliver Cook, for Bashir, of Ferguson Gardens, Kilmarnock, said he had played the part of a courier — “albeit a trusted one”.
After initial prevarication at the scene, Bashir told police there was cannabis in the car. “There is no excuse for becoming involved in this type of offending,” said Mr Cook.
“It was against the backdrop of a difficult time in Mr Bashir’s life: losing his job, getting into debt and the end of his marriage. He felt compelled to turn to crime to fund a debt that had arisen.”
Last month, the Record exposed the full extent of Bashir’s business empire. We revealed his with links to companies involved in a series of property deals in the past two years. The business is understood to have sold six units for more than £1 million.
A source said: “He ran a convenience store in Kilmarnock with his brother and they sold it on last year. They’re both well known in Kilmarnock, where Izzy lives. He has been involved in businesses that have been buying shops, pubs and public buildings, including units that were left empty after previous tenants’ businesses were sunk by lockdown. He was looking to get the properties for a song, with a view to developing small businesses on them or selling them on.”
The source added: “Bashir’s conviction is likely to bring scrutiny on how exactly he has been making and spending his cash.”
Bashir was a director of a company, Embassy Commercial Ltd, which bought a large former Glasgow Housing Association building and plot of ground on Dougrie Road, Castlemilk, in May 2023. In April, that firm also snapped up the shabby building that housed the C’mon Inn pub in Alloway Road, East Kilbride, which closed after a downturn in trade. That unit cost £330,000. Bashir told residents nearby he planned to turn the property into three retail units.
In July last year, another firm where Bashir was director – Embassy Investments Ltd – paid £160,000 for a shop at Leven View, Clydebank. Last March, that company also bought another shop unit on Cumbernauld Road, Glasgow, for £50,000. Bashir was appointed to Embassy Commercial Ltd on March 24, 2023, and resigned on June 10 this year – a month before his arrest.
He was appointed to Embassy Investments Ltd on December 9, 2022, and resigned on the same day he exited the other company. His brother, Usman, was appointed as sole director of both companies on the day Islaam resigned.
Naomi Duckworth, mitigating for McQuade, of Waterside, Kilmarnock, said he had education prospects and could, she suggested, be rehabilitated. “He knows he has made a mistake,” she also told the court. “His time in custody has been challenging and has also been a wake-up call to him.”
Judge Barker observed that both Bashir and McQuad had been remanded in prison since their arrest in July.
“In this case I am much motivated by the fact that the pair of you have now served three-a-half months in custody, which is (equivalent to) a seven-month sentence. That is a significant body of time for you to have served.”
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