Yasar Hussain Racked £312,000 in Energy Drink Scam Is Jailed after 12 Years on Run

Yasar Hussain, 43, a Bradford money launderer who fled the country while he was standing trial has been sent to jail almost 12 years after he was convicted.

Yasar Hussain Racked £312,000 in Energy Drink Scam Is Jailed after 12 Years on Run

He had raked in more than £312,000 setting up a company to produce an energy drink styled on a famous battery brand, for which he did not have permission, West Yorkshire Police said.

The 43-year-old, originally from Bradford, was handed two consecutive six-month terms at Grimsby Crown Court on Thursday for failing to appear in court and an unrelated dangerous driving charge.

According to a 2013 Crimewatch appeal to locate Hussain, the scammer went as far as attending a trade fair in Dubai, along with his associates.

He approached representatives from drinks companies from Hong

Kong, Iran, Hungary and the United Arab Emirates, and used several thousand dummy cans of the drink to dupe them into paying for exclusive sale rights.

The business folded in August 2009 before the victims could complain about a lack of supply or ask for their money back.

Hussain was extradited back to the UK last Wednesday (9/10) and appeared before Grimsby Crown Court in front of the original trial judge for sentencing on Thursday last week.

He was also given a further six-month sentence for failing to appear in court in relation to the original trial, and another six-month sentence for failing to appear in relation to an unrelated dangerous driving charge dating back to July 2009. Both additional sentences were ordered to run consecutively.

A further Proceeds of Crime Act order in relation to the £300,000 will be heard before magistrates at a later date.