Haydar Yaldiz was convicted of permitting his premises to be used for supplying cannabis. Photo: Metropolitan Police

A Hackney record shop owner has been convicted of using his business as a front for dealing cannabis.

Haydar Yaldiz, 28, used his Hackney Music store in Dalston to supply drugs to up to 100 customers a day.

He was convicted last week at Snaresbrook Crown Court of permitting his premises to be used for supplying a controlled Class B drug.

Two of his employees, Adnan Kel, 30, and Hassan Patel, 22, were convicted of conspiracy to supply.

Yaldiz and his accomplices’ activities were revealed after a police raid on the Dalston Lane shop last January – the culmination of a two-month surveillance operation.

Officers investigating the premises discovered only a ‘handful’ of CDs for sale, and what they called ‘an organised commercial enterprise’ for selling cannabis.

During the surveillance period, police also observed suspicious patterns of customer behaviour at the shop.

Adnan Kel and Hassan Patel were convicted of conspiracy to supply. Photo: Metropolitan Police

Over one sample five-hour period, between 60 and 100 individuals were seen to enter the shop, but each spent only around a minute inside.

The prosecution successfully argued that this was insufficient time to browse for and buy music, but enough for customers to buy drugs.

Kel had claimed that people entered the store only briefly because they had mistaken it for a musical instrument shop.

DS Chris Collins of the Hackney Borough Intelligence Unit said: “Hackney Music in Dalston Lane looked like a small high street shop selling music, but it was actually a sophisticated front for dealing cannabis to local users.”

Yaldiz, Kel and Patel have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 19 November.