A drugs baron who coerced a member of his gang from his remand cell into a false confession about a machine pistol has been jailed more than 13 years.

Mohamed Yusef, 32, was stopped while driving with his young wife when police found ammunition in the car boot hidden in the spare wheel compartment.

Their luxury flat at Elektron Tower in Blackwall Way, near Canary Wharf, was searched later and incriminating evidence was found revealing attempts to pervert the course of justice while Yusef was being held on remand.

Yusef got 13 years and two months last Friday for perverting justice, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, possessing ammunition and possessing heroin with intent to supply.

His 22-year-old wife Hadeel Derrar was given 14 months, suspended for two years, for perverting justice.

The gang-member Yusef coerced, Ahmed Osman, 25, got two years and two months for perverting justice.

Osman approached detectives during Yusef’s pre-committal hearing at Harrow Crown Court and gave a ‘confession statement’ that he alone was responsible for the machine pistol. But police didn’t believe his confession.

The convictions follow an operation by Scotland Yard’s Trident Gang Crime Command last May when Yusef and his wife were stopped on the A40 in west London when 12 rounds of 9mm ammunition were discovered in the boot.

Investigations led to an empty flat in Kilburn being used as a ‘safe’ house to stash firearms and drugs where officers uncovered a loaded Mach 10 machine pistol, ammunition and quantities of cash and heroin, all hidden behind a washing machine.

Yusef was in custody waiting to go on trial when he contacted Osman on a mobile phone and made him take the blame for the machine pistol.

“He was a feared individual, known for violence,” Det Chief Insp Rebecca Reeves said after the trial.

“The power he wielded over others, even from prison, meant he was able to coerce Osman to give a false confession to police.

“Yusuf’s wife also carried out his orders, concocting a false story and lying to police and to the court.

“Men of violence like Yusuf exploit others, using fear and violence to enforce perceived ‘debts’ by members of their gang.”

Forensic analysis of a computer police had seized at Yusef’s apartment in Elektron Tower showed several confessions had been drafted on it which, coupled with data from a mobile phone used by Yusuf while in prison and phones used by Osman, led to a case against all three for perverting justice.