Birmingham Gang convicted for Flooding Streets with Drugs

A Birmingham gang have been jailed for a total of 36 years after they flooded the streets of Staffordshire with heroin and crack cocaine.

An operation was set up by the West Midlands Regional Crime Unit (WMROCU). It ran between 2016 and 2017 and investigators identified Faizan Khan as the leader.

The investigation led to the arrests of the gang members.

Khan, aged 31, of Longbridge, was jailed for eight years and seven months at Stafford Crown Court. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin between July 2016 and January 2017.

Detectives targeted properties in order to arrest the Birmingham gang. They also linked the recovered evidence, from mobile phones to CCTV images.

The County Lines drug operations saw the Class A drugs transported from Birmingham into Burton upon Trent.

Taylor Burns, Ronan Blake, Ishran Rashid, Zaiba Khan and Mustafa Nazir also admitted to conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine.

Burns, aged 20, of Stechford, was jailed for three years and two months. Blake, aged 20, of Stechford, was jailed for three years.

Rashid, aged 23, of Ladywood, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Khan, aged 32, of Alum Rock, received a 20-month sentence, suspended for two years. Nazir, aged 27, of Stechford, was jailed for 22 months.

Thirty-year-old Tahir Qasim, of Edgebaston, was jailed for three years and seven months. Curtis Grant, aged 20, of Alum Rock, was jailed for 16 months.

Twenty-six-year-old Zayshan Rashid, of Ladywood, was jailed for 22 months. Liam Harding, aged 24, of Stechford, received a prison sentence of three years and two months.

Steven Davison, aged 31, of Swadlincote, was jailed for 12 months. He received a further sentence of 29 months for an unrelated offence which took place in Derby.

Mason Hutton-Attenborough, aged 19, of Stechford, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The Stoke Sentinel reported that the 13 gang members were jailed at Stafford Crown Court, from October 15 to 18, 2019.

Following the Birmingham gang’s sentences, Detective Sergeant Steve Schollar, of WMROCU, said:

“This group was working together to bring quantities of heroin and crack cocaine into Burton from Birmingham.”

“We will not tolerate drug dealing in Staffordshire and we will continue to build on the recent success of our County Lines and Disrupt operations, as well as acting on intelligence gathered, to bring offenders before the courts.”

Earlier hearings took place in May 2019 where 50-year-old Maurice Reid, of Burton, and Thor Wright, aged 31, of Burton, both admitted to two counts of permitting the supply of controlled drugs on premises.

Reid received a 12-month community order. Wright was sentenced to 41 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.