Duo warned after being found with drugs in Sunderland park
A man caught with cannabis in a car at Wearside parkland has been warned by magistrates continued use could “scramble your brain”.
They issued the words of caution to Mohid Sahid, 27, a passenger in a red BMW searched by police on Tuesday, December 23.
Alongside him in the driver’s seat at Herrington Country Park, Penshaw, was Nazir Ahmed, 23, South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard.
Ahmed, of Durham Street, Elswick, Newcastle, initially denied drugs found inches from him in the central console were his but later confessed, prosecutor Jade Houston said.
The motor vehicle technician was also saliva swiped, due to having a 2022 conviction for drug driving, but it returned a negative reading.
Officers also discovered cannabis in the door gap next to passenger Sahid, of Rothbury Terrace, Heaton, also Newcastle.
The financial analyst immediately admitted the drugs were his and for personal use.
Both men, who each have a single criminal conviction, appeared in court to plead guilty to one count of possession of a controlled class B drug.
Magistrates fined Sahid £333, with a £133 victim surcharge, and fined £266, with a £106 victim surcharge – and both must pay £85 court costs.
Keith McIntosh, chair of the bench, told Sahid: “If it wasn’t for people like yourself buying drugs, there wouldn’t be drug use.
“It’s not good, it scrambles your brain after a time.”
And of Ahmed, he said: “What slightly concerns us is your occupation. You drive vehicles as a garage mechanic.
“When you take cannabis, it stays in your blood for more than a while. It’s not sensible, it’s not sensible at all.”
Chris Wilson, defending both men, said of Sahid: “It was coming up to Christmas and he was the passenger.
“The cannabis was in the door. He’s very remorseful for the position he finds himself in. The cannabis was for personal use.”
And of Ahmed, he added: “When found by the police, he was drug swiped because of the suggestion at the time that when he was driving, he may have been using drugs.
“It was negative. He has no previous convictions for possession of class B drugs.”