Organised drug gang jailed

An organised crime network that was supplying heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and cannabis in and around London have been jailed.

The City of London Police’s investigation dates back to 2021 and uncovered that the group advertised their drugs by handing out business cards. A total of five ‘drug lines’ were attributed to them and surveillance and undercover deployments were used to evidence their criminal activities.

Masoom Ali, Ismail Mirza and Mohammed Omor Tariq were identified as principal drug line holders. On the 10 January 2023, a number of warrants were executed across London, and Ali and Miah were both found with drugs at their properties on arrest. Tariq was arrested on the 8 March 2023 at his home address. They were all charged with drug and money laundering offences. Ali pleaded guilty and Mirza and Tariq changed their pleas to guilty during the trial.

They were sentenced at Inner London Crown Court, to the following:

• Masoom Ali, 24, of Prusom Street, Tower Hamlets received six years and nine months in prison.
• Ismail Mirza, 21, of Westferry Road, Isle of Dogs received three years in prison.
• Mohammed Omor Tariq, 21, of Broad Street, Banbury received three years and seven months.

In common with many other businesses, the drug supply industry operates based on telephonic communication. Typically, a ’line’ number acts as a single point of contact, whereby ’marketing messages’ are sent to drug users, which advertise the commodity for sale, the pricing structure and the dealer’s availability. The users will then in turn text or phone back with their orders and arrange some means of meeting the dealer to conduct the transaction.  Although the line number acts as a single point of contact, it does not mean that the holder of the line number will always be the same individual.  The line number may be controlled by different individuals working together.

This investigation was initiated by the City of London Police and focused on a wider group of suspects. Shakil Miah and Salaman Miah were identified as runners acting for the lines. Warrants were also carried out on their addresses on 10 January 2023, wheredrugs and cash were found. Shakil Miah pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at the time, with Salaman Miah changing his plea to guilty of one count of conspiring to supply Class B drugs during the trial.

• Salaman Miah, 26, of Boundary Road, Barking received 14 months in prison.
• Shakil Miah, 21, of Hale Street, Isle of Dogs was bailed and will be sentenced at a later date.

Detective Sergeant Lee Warrington, City of London Police said:

“Tackling the harm caused by drugs is a priority for the City of London Police and I am really pleased our investigation has resulted in lengthy prison sentences for Ali, Mirza and Tariq. Their activity of drug running and spending could have been an episode of The Wire. Everyone involved worked hard to build a concrete case against those involved in these drug lines, from the top down.

“Putting these criminals behind bars removes another threat to rid the streets of this most impactful and harmful illegal activity as we continue to actively identify, investigate and prosecute all others attempting to do the same. Selling illegal drugs into our communities reaps misery and harm on the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in society.”