Benefits cheat used drug dealing money to fund extravagant lifestyle

A benefits cheat who used the proceeds of a £ 100,000-a-month Uber Eats-style operation to subsidise an international jet-setter lifestyle has been jailed.

Ryan Carvil, 32, was claiming £409 per month in universal credit whilst helping to run a narcotics supply scam.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Carvil laundered the profits for the high life.

The court heard how, when police discovered the operation, officers found a total of £14,080 in cash hidden in his home’s chimney.

Officers discovered that Carvil was regularly shopping in Louis Vuitton and made payments to top-end watch dealers.

Officers also discovered he was paying thousands for Emirates flights and was renting a flat in Dubai for tens of thousands of pounds.

When stopped in Glasgow Airport by law enforcement officials, he was found carrying more than £13,000 in cash.

Detectives found that the benefits claimant had bought a £160,000 Audi R6.

The story emerged on Friday after Carvil and the fellow members of his gang appeared for sentencing before Judge Lord Mulholland in Edinburgh.

Carvil, Saad Qayyum, 36, Ajaydeep Singh, 30, and Adeal Iqbal,35, had earlier pleaded guilty to organised crime and drugs offences.

The High Court in Glasgow had heard how they were bosses of an organised crime group that used delivery firms to distribute cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis.

Police discovered that their drug deliveries operated under various guises, including “Sam’s Party Shop” and “Billy’s Vitamins”.

They even produced a video which boasted of how the syndicate was running a call centre to coordinate deliveries to drug users across the central belt of Scotland. The phone lines were described as being “mobbed”.

But the highly lucrative scheme -which ran between 2018 and 2023 – was unravelled after Singh, 30, was caught by police who detected the smell of cannabis coming from his Ford Ranger pick-up truck in Glasgow’s Tradeston area.

A seized mobile phone and WhatsApp texts then revealed the scale of the operation.

On Friday, Lord Mulholland jailed Qayyum to eight years and ten months, whilst Singh was given nine years.

Iqbal was given eight years, and Carvil was handed an eight-year, three-month-long term.

Passing sentence, Lord Mulholland told the quartet: “You were all involved in a criminal enterprise best described as ‘dial a drug’ with an Uber-type delivery service to customers.

“This you did in furtherance of serious organised crime. The criminal enterprise was run as a business using administrators, a WhatsApp chat group, and text ordering, call handling, drug delivery drivers, rigorous bookkeeping, safe houses, all under the cover of the false pretence of legitimate businesses and price lists regularly sent out to all customer contacts detailing the current prices of drugs and any special offers, including multi-buy offers.

“There were 2,493 contacts on the phone seized from you, Ajaydeep Singh, which was all your undoing. Drug deliveries were as far afield as Edinburgh.

“A video was even produced entitled, “Drug Dealing Call Centre”, outlining how the drug supply enterprise was operated. In messages recovered from one of your phones, the drug phone lines were described as ‘mobbed’.

“A lot of money was made from this criminal enterprise.”

Lord Mulholland said police analysed bank accounts linked to Qayyum and found credits of £1m to them during the life span of the gang. Qayum also had a fleet of supercars.

Prosecutor Chris McKenna spoke of how Qayyum used his Quay Lounge shisha bar on Glasgow’s Paisley Road as the gang’s base.

It has since been renamed and is under new ownership.

He posed as a legitimate businessman whilst forging links with underworld drug dealer Carvil, who lived between Glasgow and a £34,000-a-year home in Dubai.

Prosecutor Chris McKenna told the court: “Qayyum utilised a drug distribution model comparable to large-scale online food delivery.

“He had a huge customer base consisting of thousands who were supplied with controlled drugs by an extensive network of drivers assisted by administrators and safe houses.”

The court heard Carvil used links to criminals in Dubai to import drugs into the UK.

Detectives discovered the operation had almost 4,000 customers in Glasgow.

The court heard how Qayyum, of Strathbungo, treated himself to a £314,000 McLaren 765T, a £96,000 BMW M5 VRM and a £51,000 Volkswagen Golf VRM.

He travelled to Germany to take his Golf supercar around the world-famous Nürburgring racing circuit — where he crashed it.

Lord Mulholland handed Qayyum, Ajaydeep Singh and Ryan Carvil serious crime prevention orders for three years following their release from custody.