POLICE bodycam footage has revealed the moment the ringleader of a Southend drugs gang was arrested by officers at the airport as he returned from a "lavish holiday" paid for with his ill-gotten gains.

Shazad Miah, 30, has been jailed for nine years after he took thousands of pounds in ill-gotten gains by running the "Frankie" line supplying crack cocaine and heroin in Southend.

The gang used 10 different mobile numbers to send out messages advertising the sale of Class A drugs in the city, with Miah holding the phones across a period between February and June last year.

He had up to five runners working under him on any given day.

During his time running the gang, and without any other plausible source of income, Miah splashed out on four expensive holidays.

These were paid for from a business bank account and personal accounts, set up under a fake car hire business. Using these accounts, he took in more than £30,000 in criminal profit.

The day before his arrest, Miah was relaxing on a privately chartered boat in Turkey – sending boastful pictures to one of his runners back in south Essex.

Miah returned from Turkey to Luton Airport, carrying the ‘Frankie’ drug line phone with him, on June 4, 2023, when he was met by Essex Police officers and promptly arrested.

Simultaneously, his home in Ashingdon Road, Rochford, was being raided by police who seized more than £3,000 in cash from a safe found at the property. A passport belonging to one of his suspected runners was also found stowed inside the safe.

Detective Sergeant Rob Maile, of the force's Operation Raptor South, said: “Miah filtered in excess of £30,000 through various bank accounts, money we know was a result of Class A drug dealing.

“He was distanced from the harsh reality of crack cocaine and heroin use, which brings associated anti-social behaviour impacting our communities and a disastrous impact on the lives of those addicted to these substances.

“Instead, he used the profits of this drug line to fund holidays to Paris, Menorca, Amsterdam and Turkey – all within a four-month period.

“Unlike those impacted, devastatingly, by the trade of the drugs he sold, he lived beyond his means – directing the runners on the streets in Southend. Others took the risk, for little of the reward.

“Miah had runners deposit cash into his bank accounts whilst he was on holiday, which he then used for further expensive purchases.

“We traced his links to the drug line phones, we traced his financial activity and we traced his movements to build a solid case against him.

“He knew he faced serious prison time for this activity, having previously been convicted for similar drug dealing in the past.

“Our work against Miah won’t stop with his imprisonment, we will be looking at ways of preventing and discouraging any further offending.

“At any level, either lower down the chain or those running the operation, drug dealers cannot operate with impunity in Essex.”