Court orders Ipswich drug dealer to repay £63,000
Mateusz Nowakowski was ordered to repay £63,000 at Ipswich Crown Court - Credit: Suffolk Constabulary
An Ipswich man who posed for photos with the spoils of a drug-dealing business which netted him more than £170,000 has been ordered to pay back £63,000.
Mateusz Nowakowski was jailed for five years and two months in May 2020 after hundreds of ecstasy tablets, amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine, cash and weapons were found during a police raid at his flat in Yarmouth Road.
Detectives also found mobile phone photos of him posing with wads of money and discovered £147,760 had been deposited into two personal bank accounts between November 2017 and February 2020.
When arrested, the 28-year-old asked police: “Who snitched on me? Was it one of my customers?”
Officers raided the Yarmouth Road flat he shared with his partner and young child in October 2019 and found 335 ecstasy tablets, 417.68g of amphetamine and 916g of cannabis worth a total of £14,400.
They also found £5,440 in cash, a ‘tick list’ of amounts owed by customers, weighing scales, deal bags, a stun gun, baseball bat, axe, machete and knuckleduster.
Two months later, while Nowakowski was still under investigation, police again raided the flat and found tin foil wraps containing 3g of cocaine, before returning on February 27 to find paying in slips for the two bank accounts.
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Nowakowski admitted possession with intent to supply MDMA, amphetamine and cannabis, possession of cocaine, possession of a stun gun and concealing criminal property.
The court heard Nowakowski had convictions for robbery, burglary and theft in his native Poland, but only motoring offences and non-compliance with community orders in this country.
During his sentencing hearing in 2020, the court heard that Nowakowski acted as a sole trader to operate one of the “principal drug-dealing hubs” in the area of Yarmouth Road.
On Friday ( May 13) Nowakowski was back in the dock at Ipswich Crown Court for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The court heard that although his benefit from his offending was £173,593 he only had available assets of £63,137.
Judge Emma Peters made a confiscation order in the sum of £63,137 to be paid within three months with a nine month prison sentence in default.
The court heard that Nowakowski’s assets were made up of cash seized from him by police, money in his bank accounts and £25,000 of hidden assets.
Nowakowski is due for release from his prison sentence in four months.
