A gang who ran drugs lines supplying heroin and cocaine have been convicted – with their ringleader being found guilty of exploiting children to operate his trade.
Brian Asante was convicted on Friday (26 July) after a trial where he denied the charge of using children to help move and supply drugs.
The 23-year-old had already admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine and after a five-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, the jury also found him guilty of child exploitation.
Asante, ran his business from addresses he lived at or had strong connections with in Wolverhampton and Stafford.
He was assisted with his drug dealing business by eight co-conspirators who lived across the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Northamptonshire and Wiltshire.
Between them they ran supply lines of drugs between February and September, 2021, using mobile phones as contact points for customers, called the AB Line and the Jay Line.
These county lines operated outside the West Midlands, one supplying drugs into Kettering, Corby and Peterborough and the second which operated primarily to serve Burton upon Trent.
Phones and SIM cards which were seized when we arrested Asante at his home in Canberra Drive, Stafford, were forensically analysed and revealed links between all the defendants.
Mobile phone data to further connected the gang members to text messages about drugs being available and locations involved. It also revealed images, including one of Asante posing on a wall with a bottle of alcohol and a pile of bank notes.
Investigators retrieved Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) data which helped trace the movement of vehicles used by the defendants as they went between the towns delivering shipments and selling drugs.
Phone data also showed Asante was directly involved in the exploitation of children to deal drugs. On one SIM card was data which showed Asante had used SnapChat to communicate with one the children used to run drugs.
Also convicted of conspiracy to supply heroin and crack-cocaine, were two woman and four men.
They are: Meghan Lawrence, 21 of Manitoba Croft, Birmingham and Emma Gill, 42, of Convent Close, Wolverhampton.
Also Dhillon Swarn, 20, of Wolverhampton Road, Bloxwich, Simon McTaggart, 38 of Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton, Gulam Izdani, 22 of Luddesdown Road, Swindon and Maurice Reid, 55, of The Cloisters, Burton-upon-Trent.
James Carroll, aged 46, of Dumble Close, Corby Northamptonshire was convicted of facilitating travel for a child for the purpose of exploitation.
Alicia Cox, 25, was convicted of Wesley Road, Bilbrook, South Staffordshire for assisting an organised crime group by transporting a child for the purpose of selling drugs.
DS Gavin McGrath, from our County Lines Taskforce, said: “This was a well-developed and complex network of dealers who were supplying large quantities of heroin and cocaine to people many miles away.
“We worked with Staffordshire Police, Northampton Police and Police Scotland to gather intelligence, evidence and secure arrests.
“Ultimately we were able to dismantle their operation and safeguard two children who were being trafficked as part of the illegal operation.”
They will be sentenced at a date to be confirmed.