At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Mulholland imposed sentences of between 8 and 9 years imprisonment on Saad Qayyum, Ajaydeep Singh, Adeal Iqbal, and Ryan Carvil after they pled guilty to being involved in the supply of drugs, aggravated by a connection to serious organised crime.
On sentencing Lord Mulholland made the following remarks in court:
"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, WhatsApp chat group and text ordering, call handling, drug delivery drivers, rigorous bookkeeping, safehouses 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 drugs 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. Despite having limited declared income, you Saaed Qayyum were associated with large amounts of cash, a valuable watch and many valuable cars including two McLaren super cars, a top of the range Audi, two VW Golfs, a Range Rover and 4 x BMW M range vehicles. You could not afford these vehicles on your declared income.
A financial profile was compiled by Police analysts analysing bank accounts linked to you Saad Qayyum. During the period of the libel, there were total credits of approximately 1 million pounds. Furthermore, Police analysts have calculated that the criminal enterprise was at times collecting up to approximately £100,000 per month cash proceeds from the sale of controlled drugs via the dial a drug phone lines and other ordering systems. Analysis was conducted on messages sent during the month of December 2021 from the administrators and facilitators to the drivers (drugs couriers) stating what drugs were to be delivered and the amount of money to be charged to customers. In December 2021 drivers were instructed to collect £112,135 from the sale of drugs to customers. This shows the scale of the criminal enterprise ran by you Saad Quyyum.
You Ajaydeep Singh were a highly trusted member of the crime group. You performed the role of administrator and facilitator. As administrator, you played a crucial role, being responsible for the entire transaction process of customers drugs orders, manning the phones which received the orders, passing orders to drivers, maintaining the group's drug stock levels, recording the amount of drugs that had been sold and how much money had been earned and processing the proceeds of those transactions. You performed an overseeing role in relation to the drivers. You managed the rota, wages, accounts and stock.
You also arranged for 10 sheets of Etizolam to be supplied to two prisoners within HMP Barlinnie. You had the prisoners’ dates of birth and prison numbers.
You Adeal Iqbal occupied a similar role to Ajaydeep Singh, acting as a facilitator for the group. Under direction you were responsible for directing the entire transaction process of customers’ drugs orders in respect of cocaine, ecstasy and Ketamine. You were responsible for manning the phones which received the orders, passing the orders to drivers, maintaining the group's drug stock levels and packaging same, recording the amount of drugs that had been sold and how much money had been earned, and processing the proceeds of the transactions. You performed a directing role in relation to the drivers. You managed the rota, wages, books and stock. You would coordinate the uplift of drugs from various places to ensure drivers had sufficient stock to service the customers. You directed the drivers on what to do with the cash proceeds from the sales.
You are recorded as saying that what you were doing was worth it for the reward. Well, you are about to be disabused of that view.
Ryan Carvil, you were involved in directing a crime group, separate to the Saad Qayyum crime group, which was involved in the supply of cocaine and ecstasy. You were the principal involved in the supply of drugs, the collection of drug related cash, directing the operators of safehouses from which cocaine, and drugs paraphernalia were recovered, using your links to Dubai to direct others in relation to the importation of controlled drugs into the UK, and being involved in the supply of cocaine and MDMA to the crime group of which the principal was Saad Qayyum.
Messages recovered involving you referenced Cocaine, MDMA and large amounts of cash. These messages also demonstrated that you lived a lifestyle outwith your legitimate means and that you laundered the money earned by you through the drugs supply operation. When your house was searched under warrant, £14,080 was found inside the chimney. Analysis of your bank accounts revealed high end lifestyle purchases such as multiple purchases from Louis Vuitton, payments to Triple Sex watch dealer and Emirates flights. You rented a flat in Dubai for tens of thousands of pounds. When stopped at Glasgow Airport you were in possession of £13,215. You purchased an Audi R6 for approximately £160,000. Yet you were claiming Universal Credit of £409.89 per month. You also have a significant criminal record for crimes of violence and weapons including a firearm.
So, as I have outlined, this is a criminal enterprise of significant scale and scope. The sentences which I am about to impose will punish you for your criminal conduct and act as a deterrent for anyone thinking about whether or not to embark on such criminality. In sentencing you, I take into account the scale and scope of your criminality,
Saad Qayyum, had you not pled guilty when you did, I would have sentenced you to a sentence of 11 years’ imprisonment. Taking account of the timing of your plea of guilty, I sentence you to 8 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.
Ajaydeep Singh, had you not pled guilty when you did, I would have sentenced you to a cumulo sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment. Taking account of the timing of your plea of guilty, I sentence you to 9 years’ imprisonment. I apportion 6 months’ imprisonment to the serious organised crime aggravation for charge 27.
Adeal Iqbal, had you not pled guilty when you did, I would have sentenced you to a sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. Taking account of the timing of your plea of guilty, I sentence you to 8 years’ imprisonment.
Ryan Carvil, had you not pled guilty when you did, I would have sentenced you to a sentence of 11 years’ imprisonment. Taking account of the timing of your plea of guilty, I sentence you to 8 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.
SCPOs
In your cases Saad Qayyum, Ajaydeep Singh and Ryan Carvil, I make SCPOs for 3 years effective from your release from prison.
Confiscation
With regard to the motions for a confiscation order under Section 92 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in respect of Qayyum, Carvil and Singh the court will fix a timetable in respect that each will lodge and intimate a response to the statement of information within 6 weeks and a further 4 weeks thereafter for adjustment.
I hereby fix the first procedural confiscation hearing for Qayyum, Singh and Carvil on 11 May 2026 at Edinburgh High Court at 9:30am.
