Nine members of a “county lines” gang have been given jail sentences totalling more than 60 years for drug dealing in Brighton and Hove.
Their phone line – known as the Hector line – was linked to five people whose deaths were linked to drugs from 2018 to 2020.
Six of the men were jailed by Judge Stephen Mooney at Brighton Crown Court at a hearing that was held two years after three others were also sent to prison.
The sentences followed a two-year Sussex Police investigation into the Hector line – known as Operation Bite.
The Brighton and Hove Community Investigation Team worked with colleagues from the Metropolitan Police to bring the gang to justice.
Detective Inspector Dee Wells said that the investigation “has taken a large number of dangerous people and substances off the streets”.
Sussex Police said today: “Sussex Police has taken down a major county line drug dealing gang in Brighton and Hove, jailing nine people involved in a significant organised conspiracy after a two-year operation by the city’s Community Investigation Team.”
Six members of the gang were jailed at Brighton Crown Court on Friday 28 October for charges that included conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine. Three others were jailed in 2020 for their involvement in the conspiracy.
Sussex Police said: “A channel of drug supply into the city known as the Hector line was first identified in August 2018 when a mobile phone linked to the distribution of class A drugs including crack cocaine and heroin was discovered.
“County lines dealing is the sale of drugs from large urban areas, such as London, into smaller towns and cities such as Brighton. Dealers and customers are linked by mobile phone numbers, through which deals are conducted.
“Typically, the main number is controlled by a distant, senior gang member in the larger urban area but the Hector line bucked that trend.
“Instead, senior members operated within Sussex, giving investigators a greater opportunity to target offenders at all levels of the hierarchy.
“As is common practice for county lines dealing, the group targeted young and vulnerable individuals through violence, exploitation and intimidation, employing them to carry out street dealing on their behalf while higher-level leaders maintained control of the money.
“Over the course of two years of covert and overt operations, surveillance, intelligence gathering and enforcement, dozens of people were arrested and huge amounts of drugs were seized as officers from the Community Investigations Team (CIT) partnered with the Metropolitan Police to disrupt the gang’s activity.
“The investigation found the Hector line changed phone numbers four times over four years. These numbers were found on the mobile phones of five people who died in drug-related circumstances between 2018 and 2020.
“Alongside that work, a case was built to charge a large number of senior, mid and street-level members with being part of a conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
“Being part of a conspiracy shows an organised, determined commitment to the illegal drug trade that goes beyond the charge of possession with the intent to supply.”
Those jailed were
- Ahmed Issa, 27, of Plashet Road, in Plaistow, London, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, who was sentenced to nine years in prison
- Abdulqafar Farah, 26, of Old Montague Street, Tower Hamlets, London, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, who was sentenced to eight years in prison
- Abdijabar Ahmad, 23, of Roman Road, Tower Hamlets, London, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, who was sentenced to five years and three months in prison
- Anice Ali Nur, 21, of Gaverick Mews, Tower Hamlets, London, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, who was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.
- Mustafa Ahmed, 25, of no fixed address, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison
- Tamer Elsherif, 50, of Cottenham Road, in Worthing, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison
- Hamse Musa, 26, of Purdy Street, Tower Hamlets, London, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, who was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday 10 February 2020 and whose assets were seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act
- Hussen Dualeh, 30, of Mayflower Road, Billericay, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, who was sentenced to three years and four months in prison on Monday 10 February 2020 and whose assets were also seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act
- Kieran Rice, 19, of Melbury Avenue, Southall, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine and a racially aggravated public order offence, who was sentenced to eight years in a young offender institution
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Detective Inspector Dee Wells, from Brighton and Hove’s Community Investigations Team, said: “This was a long, complex investigation into an organised crime gang responsible for spreading untold devastation among our communities.
“The supply of illegal drugs is hugely destructive, going hand in hand with violence and exploitation, and underpinning all manner of wider criminality. As harmful substances, they also decimate the lives of their users.
“Detective Constable Rachel Piggott has worked tirelessly to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice. I am delighted with these sentences.
“I would like to thank our partners in the Metropolitan Police for their support in this investigation which has taken a large number of dangerous people and substances off the streets.
“Our commitment to tackling county lines drug dealing is unwavering and we will continue to make Brighton and Hove, and the wider county, an inhospitable place for suppliers to operate.”
