AN Oldbury teenager has been jailed for his part in a drugs gang that supplied heroin and crack cocaine into market and spa towns across the Midlands and Worcestershire.
Kane Payne was jailed along with Birmingham men Zoheeb Habib, Usman Rafiq, Atieb Osman and Mohinoor Rashid, plus Denise Lynch from Aston, for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Atieb Osman, Zoheeb Habib and Mohinoor Rashid. Pic - West Midlands Police
The six, who were running drugs from Birmingham into Ledbury and Malvern, were identified in a sting run by officers from the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit − alongside West Mercia Police.
It is estimated the ‘Uzi Line’ drugs chain, as it was known, supplied around 2kg of Class A drugs and made more than £150,000 over a 12-month period, supplying 133 customers on its books.
The convictions are the first in a wider regional police offensive, codenamed Operation Ballet, targeting suspected County Lines drugs dealers.
Detective Inspector Julie Woods, from the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit – who is leading the operation, said: "Op Ballet is the largest operation of its kind ever carried out in the region and in June saw West Midlands Police team up with West Mercia colleagues to carry out a series of raids across the region and London.
"In total, the operation has netted 75 suspected drug dealers believed to be involved in a total of 10 County Lines operating out of the West Midlands and the capital. Some are awaiting sentence after admitting drug dealing while other are facing trial."
Payne, a 19-year-old from Ivy House Road, Oldbury, was arrested on February 22 in Wells Road, Malvern, as part of the operation. He admitted his involvement in the conspiracy and on Thursday (November 15) was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Habib, from Wilson Road in Lozells; Osman, from Stafford Road, Handsworth; Rashid from Albert Road in Handsworth; and Lynch also admitted their involvement in the chain but Rafiq (pictured below) pleaded not guilty.
A jury at Worcester Crown Court, however, returned a guilty verdict after just an hour of deliberating – and the 26-year-old was jailed for 12 years on Friday November 16.
Osman was jailed for nine-and-a-half years, Habib for eight years and Rashid for six years, while Lynch (pictured below) was given a two-and-a-half year jail term.
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