A former Tottenham Hotspur youth player was one of eight drug dealers jailed for a combined 24 years after a major undercover police operation to halt the ‘evil trade’ ravaging the streets of east London reports CourtNewsUK (£).
Officers posing as buyers met with scores of drug pushers throughout Tower Hamlets after identifying a number of different phone lines during the five-month covert crackdown on narcotics, violence and anti-social behaviour earlier this year.
More than 300 officers were involved in raids at more than 50 properties, seizing over £60,000 in cash, over half a kilo of heroin and crack cocaine as well as four stun guns.
So far 49 individuals have been charged as part of ‘Operation Continuum’, a joint partnership between the police, council and local housing associations.
Over the past two months 32 men and three male juveniles have pleaded guilty to more than 70 drugs offences.
At Snaresbrook Crown Court last week 16 of those were jailed for more than 49 years over their involvement.
A further eight, aged between 18 and 47, were handed sentences totalling 24 years today (thurs) in the latest wave of court appearances.
More will be dealt with at hearings next Friday and at the end of September.
Judge Nigel Peters QC said: ‘This was a major operation to try to rid the area of Tower Hamlets of this terrible crime that just goes on and on.
‘The drug dealing trade has really just taken off. It is a public nuisance issue.’
Samad Uddin, 28, controlled the ‘Ghost’ line, overseeing deals carried out by addicts Mohammed Moshin, 42, and Konstantinos Tsoukanas, 36, as well as former Spurs youth player Nawfal El-Ghaibouz, 21.
The court heard El-Ghaibouz had a two-year contract with Spurs when he was 17 but it was terminated half way through after he ripped the ligaments in his knee.
He claimed to have been naively lured into the operation by the potential rewards but is now set to miss the birth of his first child as he languishes behind bars.
Part-time restaurant worker Dilshad Chowdhury, 47, similarly claims to have been threatened by Uddin into ferrying dealers around in a car to meet undercover officers.
‘These offences involve officers making a phone call to the ‘Ghost’ line and the defendants appearing and dealing drugs to them,’ prosecutor Babatunde Alabi said.
‘The line operated mainly in the E1 postal area.
‘In the period between 1 January 2018 and 15 May 2018 it received 7,470 phone calls.
‘That means an average of 55 calls per day, with each call averaging about 22 seconds.
‘We therefore estimate that the ‘Ghost’ line would have made an average of £830 per day.’
He added: ‘It is the Crown’s case that Mr Uddin was in charge of this line, with the other defendants acting under his instructions.’
The court heard Uddin had previously been jailed for similar offences and became embroiled in this enterprise because he needed to pay off the drugs seized when he was arrested on that occasion.
Mohammed Rahman and Ismail Kiani, both 20, were identified as dealing drugs through the ‘AJ’ line.
‘Between 1 January 2018 and 31 April 2018, the line received 4,771 phone calls, each lasting around 14 seconds,’ said Mr Alabi.
‘Therefore, the Crown estimates that this line made about £3,060 per day, on the assumption that each call represented one customer only.
‘In fact, on occasions there would have been more than one customer present when transactions were conducted.’
Judge Peters said Kiani, as with many of the other younger defendants, were themselves ‘users and they have been preyed upon’.
Tahmid Hussain, 21, brazenly approached one of the officers, rather than the other way around like the majority of the defendants, offering to sell them drugs.
‘He then gave the officer his business card and said that was a new line he was setting up – the ‘Ash’ line,’ said Mr Alabi.
When he was later arrested Hussain was found with stacks of paper sheets with ‘Ash’ written on them, which the prosecutor described as ‘the genesis of the ‘Ash’ line’.
Four deals of heroin and 10 of crack cocaine were also recovered.
The court heard that the ‘O’ line had a ‘dealing plot’ out of the park off Walburgh Street.
Between 1 January and 15 April this year it received about 47 calls and raking in at least £940 each day.
Shane Bates, 21, and Ruhel Hussain, 18, admitted running drugs as part of that operation.
Noor Hussain, 21, was the last to be hauled into court following his arrest for controlling the ‘Kaos’ line and sending a youth out to deal the drugs.
Judge Peters told the men: ‘It is an evil trade. It goes without saying that cocaine and heroin are killers, and you were helping this trade.’
Samad Uddin, of Chicksand Street, Tower Hamlets, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty on 18 July to the supply of crack cocaine, the supply of heroin, possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin.
Mohammed Moshin, of Orion House, Tower Hamlets, was sentenced to three-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty on 18 July to the supply of crack cocaine, the supply of heroin and possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
Nawfal El- Ghaibouz, of Commercial Road, Tower Hamlets, was jailed for 27 months after pleading guilty on 18 July to the supply of crack cocaine and the supply of heroin.
Dilshad Chowdhury, of Brady Street, Tower Hamlets, pleaded guilty on 19 July to the supply of crack cocaine and heroin and was remanded in custody ahead of sentence on 27 September pending reports.
Ismail Kiani, of Campbell Road, Tower Hamlets, was sentenced to three years’ youth detention after pleading guilty on 16 July to two counts of supplying crack cocaine and two counts of supplying heroin.
Mohammed Muttaqir Rahman, of Geoff Cade Way, Tower Hamlets, was sentenced to 27 months’ youth detention after pleading guilty on 26 July to two counts of supplying crack cocaine and two counts of supplying heroin.
Tahmid Hussain, of The Quarterdeck, Tower Hamlets, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to the supply of crack cocaine and the supply of heroin.
Ruhel Hussain, of Smithfield Court, Cable Street, Tower Hamlets, pleaded guilty on 26 July to the supply of heroin and crack cocaine and possession with intent to supply crack cocaine.
He was bailed to return to court on 27 September for sentence pending reports.
Shane Bates, of Cornwall Street, Tower Hamlets, was jailed for three years after pleading guilty on pleaded guilty on 26 July to supply of crack cocaine and supply of heroin.
Konstantinos Tsoukanas, of Old Montague Street, Tower Hamlets, pleaded guilty on 18 July to possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin and the supply of crack cocaine and heroin.
He too was remanded in custody pending pre-sentence reports and will next appear on 27 September.
Noor Hussain, of Martineau Square, Tower Hamlets, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after pleading guilty on 31 July to the supply of cocaine and possession of criminal property.
