Convicted Shropshire drug dealer Naseer Zaman has paid a total of £225,000 into court under a confiscation order imposed by a judge, it was revealed today.

The money was demanded by court authorities last year under the Proceeds of Crime Act following 41-year-old Zaman’s convictions for conspiring to import cocaine and heroin.

The confiscation order was made by Judge Michael Challinor at Wolverhampton Crown Court in July last year and Zaman was given six months to find the cash or face further time behind bars.

Today a spokeswoman for the West Midlands Regional Confiscation Unit for the Courts Service said that the full amount had now been handed over.

“The court had around £67,000 in its possession from monies confiscated earlier by the police and a further £158,850 was paid to the court earlier this week at the end of the six-month period,” she said.

At the crown court last year a six-point agreement was reached between the prosecution and defence, which declared that Zaman had led a criminal lifestyle and that he had benefited by £450,000 from his criminal conduct.

It followed an extensive investigation into Zaman’s financial status by officers from the West Mercia Police economic crime unit based at Telford and included details of the purchase of his luxury home at Lilleshall.

Judge Challinor said that Zaman must pay the £225,000 by January this year or face an additional two-and-a-half years in prison.

The confiscation monies had to come from legitimate funds and it was believed that Zaman would be forced to sell his home – Abbey Court in Abbey Road – to comply with the order.

However, his businessman brother, Kader Zaman, who runs the Station Hotel in Wellington, said today that the monies had been raised by both himself and other family members.

“The sum of around £158,000 was paid by my solicitors, Parry Carver, to the court this week and it was not necessary to sell the property at Lilleshall where my brother’s wife and family live,” he said.

In August, 2008, Naseer Zaman, the former manager of the Barley Mow pub in Newport, was jailed for a total of 15 years – six years for conspiring to import cocaine and a further nine years for conspiring with two serving prisoners to import up to 10 kilos of heroin.

Following a hearing at the Appeal Court in London last week Zaman had his total jail sentence cut to 12 years.

By Arthur Mills