Drug gang jailed for more than 50 years
The nine men and teenage boy set up a supply chain of the drugs from their London base into Luton, Bedford, Norwich and Ipswich.
Abdi Sugulle, 20, Mahad Hassan, 29, and Harry Levett, 20, lived in executive apartments in Westminster, London Bridge and Kew where they masterminded the elaborate ‘county lines drug supply’.
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Hide AdThe gang used expensive hire cars to transport the drugs across the eastern region where they would be supplied to drug dealers.
Head of the group, Sugulle would orchestrate the supply lines from his London base. Call data showed he handled around 60,000 calls in just six months.
Below him in the chain were Hassan and Levitt, his trusted ‘lieutenants’ who controlled the supply of drugs from safe houses across London.
The rest of the group were utilised to deliver drugs to further safe houses at the dealer locations in Luton, Bedford Norwich and Ipswich, while also collecting substantial sums of cash - the proceeds from the sale of the drugs.
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Hide AdThe Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) conducted a covert investigation into the crime group with support from Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies and the Metropolitan Police. The investigation culminated in the seizure of 36,500 individual wraps of heroin and crack cocaine with an estimated street value of £360,500, an imitation Uzi sub-machine pistol and £61,755 in cash.
Detective Inspector Gary Bloomfield who headed up the investigation said: “This crime group were very much at the high end of this type of criminality.
“They preyed on the vulnerable and used violence to secure their criminal ends. We will not rest on our laurels following the sentences handed out today, we will continue to work closely together with partners across the region to protect our communities from the scourge unlawful drugs bring and the acquisitive crime which comes with it.”
All 10 pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
They included:
• Abdi Sugulle, 20, from Southwark, London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to seven and a half years in prison
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Hide Ad• Abdi Nurr, 20, from Brentford, London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to six years in prison
• Mahad Hassan, 29, from Plumstead, London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to six years and four months in prison
• Jama Adam, 25, from Abbeywood, London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to six and a half years in prison
• Shafic Ali, 27, from Woolwich London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to seven years and three months in prison
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Hide Ad• A 16-year-old from London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to a 12-month youth detention and training order
• Ali Haji, 26, from Woolwich, London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to seven years in prison
• Harry Levitt, 20, from Brentford, London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to five years in prison (consecutive to an existing sentence)
• Spencer Muskia, 19, from Thamesmead, London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to four years in prison (consecutive to an existing sentence)
• Aaron Burnett, 22, from Mitcham, London - conspiracy to supply class A (heroin and crack cocaine) - sentenced to three years in prison