Colchester: Pair guilty of drug supply offences

Two men are guilty of supplying drugs in Colchester after officers discovered a dog bed containing a large supply of Class A and B drugs thrown from their balcony.

We showed Vincent Vata and Zubair Sahak, both 24, both of Quayside Drive in Colchester, were both involved in supplying illegal substances, and a phone recovered from their address contained more than 13,000 pages of messages advertising drugs for sale.

Officers arrived in Quayside Drive to arrest Vata in connection with other offences on 13 March 2023 when he failed to answer the door promptly.

Once inside we found canisters of nitrous oxide and drug paraphernalia, leading officers to suspect the address and the defendants may be connected to the supply of drugs in the city.

Vata was taken into custody and officers returned to arrest Sahak as well, locating thousands of pounds in cash, a large volume of cannabis and more than 100 tablets of MDMA.

PC Maddox said:

“Vata and Sahak initially tried to hide and deny their crimes, trying to claim the drugs we recovered were for personal use and the cash was their life savings.
“Caught off-guard by our officers that morning, they filled the dog bed in their flat with the drugs and threw it from their balcony to try and hide it before we entered.
“All these attempts were futile when we showed the thousands of messages advertising the drugs we recovered for sale on the phone they had locked away connected all our evidence to them.
“This is another example of the hard work we’re putting in every day to keep Colchester and Essex safe from dangerous illegal substances – and that those supplying them in our county will be caught.”

Vata was charged and subsequently pleaded guilty before standing trial to possession with intent to supply MDMA, possession with intent to supply cocaine, possession with intent to supply cannabis, and possession of criminal property.

Sahak refused to accept the charges against him, but following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court on Tuesday 8 April a jury only took 38 minutes to convict him of possession with intent to supply MDMA, possession with intent to supply cocaine, possession with intent to supply cannabis, possession with intent to supply MDMA, possession of criminal property, and being concerned in the supply of cannabis, ketamine, ecstasy, and cocaine.

Vata has been remanded in custody and Sahak bailed pending sentencing at the same court on Friday 20 June.

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