A county line drug dealer from Brighton has been jailed for 10 years after being found guilty by a jury.
Seyed Mousavian, 42, of Grand Parade in Brighton, was involved in dealing crack cocaine and heroin through the “Hector” line which was linked to five deaths in less than three years.
At Lewes Crown Court, Judge Stephen Mooney said that Mousavian was “a very devious man”. He was arrested as part of an operation known as Op Bite.
And after the case, Detective Inspector Dee Wells said that the supply of drugs by the gang behind the Hector line “spread violence, exploitation and devastation in our communities”.
Sussex Police said that Mousavian was jailed for conspiracy to supply class A drugs as the result of “a major investigation into organised crime in the city”.
Mousavian is the 10th person to have been jailed after a two-year investigation into the Hector county drugs line. The line was identified as being used to distribute crack cocaine and heroin in Brighton and Hove.
Since 2020, Sussex Police said, 10 people involved in the Hector county line, including senior gang leaders, had been jailed for a total of more than 64 years.
The force said: “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.
“During more than two years of covert and overt operations, surveillance, intelligence gathering and enforcement, dozens of people were arrested and huge amounts of drugs were seized.
“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 from 2018 to 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.”
In passing sentence on Thursday 23 March, Judge Mooney described Mousavian as “a very devious man” who made the most of the opportunity presented to him in becoming involved with the Hector gang.
Detective Inspector Wells, of Brighton and Hove’s Community Investigations Team, said: “This significant custodial sentence is the latest step in what has been a long complex investigation into an extremely dangerous crime gang operating in Brighton and Hove.
“Their supply of illegal substances spread violence, exploitation and devastation in our communities.
“Mousavian’s sentence should serve as a reminder of our ongoing commitment to disrupting drug supply in our city and protecting our communities.”
Well done to the Police. These adults ruin young people’s lives by gaining their trust, then getting them to do their dirty work.
Lock him up and throw away the key.
10 years!!?? So out in 5 then? Absolute joke of a sentence!