FIVE MEN have been jailed for over 40 years after West Midlands Police dismantled a Coventry drugs line.
Jyad Mohammedi, Walid Houssain, Zewar Younes, Sarwat Ahmed and Shahram Karimi were jailed for a combined total of more than 42 years for their involvement in supplying crack cocaine and heroin.
From L-R: Ahmed & Karimi
Their drug dealing racket, known as the ‘Turk Line’, is believed to have operated across Coventry between December 2022 and August 2023.
Cars were used to deal drugs from, registered under the false alias of ‘Florentin Iosif’ at different addresses to avoid journeys used to drop off the drugs ever being linked back to them.
In the months leading up to their arrest, Houssain and Mohammedi were stopped in one of the cars multiple times and on these occasions, Mohammedi would give his details as being ‘Florentin Iosif’.
Records also placed the Turk Line phone at the same location as the stopped car along with personal phones belonging to the pair.
Between December 2022 and April 2023, the Turk Line was used to send out more than 8,000 bulk messages to multiple people advertising drugs for sale.
Drugs were then often transported in cars but driven by different members of the group around Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester and other parts of the country.
Officers from the County Lines Taskforce carried out a warrant at an address in Talland Avenue, Coventry on August 23, 2023 where Mohammedi, Younes and Houssain were arrested.
At the address a mobile phone believed to be the main handset for Turk Line was recovered – Younes was searched and found to have the keys to a safe containing large amount of cash.
When Mohammedi and Houssain were searched, large amounts of cash was also found and Ahmed and Karimi were arrested in the days after the warrant.
During interview, most of the group gave ‘no comment’ answers to the majority of questions and Ahmed even claimed to not even know what Class A drugs were.
Detectives were able to link them all to the Turk Line through their phones as well as the phone used to service drug users and CCTV.
Text messages between Mohammedi and Houssain showed a discussion of the wholesale of a kilogram of cocaine – around £500,000 was being laundered through businesses linked to Younes.
TheThe group were sentenced last Thursday (November 14) at Warwick Crown Court.
Detective Constable David Cockbill, from the County Lines Taskforce, said: “The taskforce have worked hard to put this group behind bars where they can’t cause further misery to our communities.
“We won’t stop in our fight against organised crime and will continue to remove drugs off our streets and bring those involved to justice, while also protecting and safeguarding the vulnerable people caught up in these lines.
“We can’t do this without information from the public and I would encourage you to get in touch if you have any information. Something small, could be something big to our investigation.”
- Jyad Mohammedi, aged 23 of Mansel Street, Coventry was jailed for 11 years and seven months for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
- Zewar Younes, aged 31 of no fixed abode was jailed for nine and a half years for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
- Sarwat Ahmed, aged 22 of Eastwood, Manchester was jailed for nine and a half years for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
- Walid Houssain, aged 23 of no fixed abode was jailed for nine years and 11 months for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
- Shahram Karimi, aged 23 of The Old Yard, Coventry was jailed for three years for possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin at Warwick Crown Court on June 10 2024.
