A COVENTRY man has been jailed for five-and-a-half years after admitting supplying crack cocaine and heroin.
Saed Ali was behind the so-called ‘AA’ County Line, peddling class A drugs from his home into Nuneaton.
Warwickshire Police uncovered the line when they raided a house in Nuneaton which had been ‘cuckooed’ – an address taken over by County Lines dealers as a local drugs den.
Officers passed the investigation to West Midlands Police colleagues on August 1 last year and WMP traced the line to Ali’s home in Ventnor Close, Coventry.
They then gathered evidence, discovering the 27-year-old was sending bulk marketing messages offering drugs for sale to more than 200 contacts on his drugs hotline.
One of the messages read “AA On” and another alerted users to ‘Deals n Drops’.
His home was raided on November 2 and Ali was found soaked in the bathroom as he tried desperately to flush drugs down the toilet.
The toilet and floor were covered in white powder and police also found drugs and bundles of cash in a microwave, cutting agents, dealer bags and a pan he was using to ‘cook up’ crack cocaine.
Det Con Daniel Gibbs from the County Lines Taskforce in the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) ran the investigation.
He said: “We discovered the AA Line was active almost 24 hours a day with messages going out between 9am and 3am.
“Ali ran drugs up to the cuckooed address in Nuneaton and then got vulnerable people to sell the drugs and complete street deals on his behalf.
“It’s the classic County Lines model – he was exposing people to danger and the risk of attack from drugs rivals while he stayed at home and counted his proceeds, which we suspect ran into six figures.
“We have a dedicated team targeting County Lines. It’s really important work – offenders can ruin lives by grooming impressionable children and young people into drugs gangs.”
Last week (March 7 to 13) West Midlands Police took part in a national operation targeting County Lines that run heroin, cocaine and crack supply chains from cities into smaller towns and rural areas.
A total of 109 suspects were arrested and officers seized nearly £1million in drugs, £20,000 in cash and weapons.
Anyone wanting to report suspected drug-dealing in their area should call 101 or submit it via Live Chat at west-midlands.police.uk where there is also more information on County Lines drug-dealing.
