A FORMER South Tyneside police officer has been ordered to pay back just £9,000 of more than £500,000 he made as the head of a drugs gang.
Jason Singh was sacked by Northumbria Police after he was jailed for six years for masterminding a series of cashpoint raids in 2007.
After his release from prison, however, the 29-year-old ran a lucrative drug-dealing empire.
The ex-Pc, based in South Shields during his time with the force, sourced high-grade heroin from criminal contacts in Yorkshire and transported it to Tyneside to be sold.
Last year, Singh, of Woodbine Place, Bensham, Gateshead, was jailed for nine years and four months at Newcastle Crown Court after he admitted conspiracy to supply drugs.
Singh was back in court last week, and prosecution and defence teams agreed he had made £564,760 through drug dealing.
But the court heard his remaining assets amount to just £9,650, and they have already been seized.
His only available assets are two vehicles and a registration plate, the hearing was told.
Judge Brian Forster told Singh at the sentencing hearing last year: “This court has one message – heroin has no place on our streets.
“I reflect the viewpoint of every law-abiding citizen.
“Those who make money out of the misery of others must expect severe punishment.”
Singh and his gang were arrested after undercover officers carried out covert surveillance, took secret audio recordings and even planted a listening device in one of his associate’s cars.
When detectives swooped, he was caught with a kilo of heroin in a car travelling on the A1.
Singh was once a promising young footballer until he was let go by Newcastle United at the age of 18.
He accepted making five drug runs from Bradford to the North East, each time transporting a kilo of the deadly drug, worth £2.85m in total, for sale on the streets of the region.