A MOTHER has avoided jail after buying a plane ticket and arranging a visa for her wanted son who was caught with £99,000 worth of drugs.

Shazia Asif, 46, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday (August 18) for one count of assisting an offender – her son Mohammed – by trying to help him flee the country.

In June 2021, police found £99,000-worth of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and cannabis in a flat in Woodlands Park, Maidenhead – which Asif had run away from just moments earlier.

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Officers then arrested him at Heathrow Airport a few days later, just as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul.

The then-22-year-old was jailed for four years and 10 months in November, 2021.

In January this year, his mother was then charged with assisting him by buying his £429 plane ticket and arranging his coronavirus test and his visa.

Judge Hassan Khan handed her a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years due to her being the sole career of her young children.

The court heard that police were alerted to drug activity in the flat and after Asif (Mohammed) fled from officers, text messages were exchanged between him and his mother.

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He told her that his car had been seized by police and his fingerprints were on it, to which Asif replied: “S***”.

Asif (Mohammed) then asked her for a solicitor’s number but she replied that she had found a British Airways flight to Turkey.

She added she had applied for a Visa that would be complete by 5pm as well as a covid-19 test so he could board the flight.

Defending Asif, her barrister explained if she was to be sent to prison her children would have to live with their eldest brother.

Judge Khan said: “Undoubtedly, you were helping your son leave the country to evade justice.

“The impact of this offence are, there are no known victims, but in attempts to help your son evade justice, you’ve undermined the legal system and have contributed to the harm caused by the drug activity in the community.”

The mitigating factors he considered when sentencing was the destabilization custody would cause the children, Asif’s health issues, her remorse, and her low risk of reoffending.

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He said: “I’ve considered very carefully whether to suspend this sentence. I can’t in good conscience put on your sins onto your daughters, they’ve done nothing wrong.

“Exceptionally in this case to suspend your sentence and give you a chance.”