The supply of crack and heroin into Norwich has been dealt a blow after ten members of a drugs gang were jailed for more than 50 years.
Nine men and a teenage boy supplied Class A drugs to Norwich, Ipswich, Luton and Bedford for seven months between November 2014 and May last year.
In three seizures 4.58 kilos of drugs were recovered, which Judge Andrew Bright QC described as 'the tip of the iceberg' of their drug dealing.
Prosecutor Oliver Doherty said the defendants were arrested following an operation by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU).
At one flat in Kew Bridge Road, Brentford, 28,500 wraps were discovered - one of the largest ever seizures of deal wraps in the UK, St Albans crown court was told on Monday.
Mr Doherty said: 'It was a sophisticated, well-organised conspiracy to supply Class A drugs to county outposts. The hub was London.
'Drug users would call numbers and be told an address to go to. The locations of the dealer hub would change very rapidly in order to avoid detection.'
The ERSOU said the head of the gang in London would direct customers to various properties in Norwich, including Mile Cross, New Catton and the city centre.
The gang were under surveillance by the police when one of them, Arron Burnett, was kidnapped on 2 March last year over a drug debt. He had jumped out of a window and fled when police raided an address, leaving behind a stash of drugs worth £8,000 to £20,000.
Burnett was taken from Brighton by two other defendants, Harry Levitt and Spencer Musika, and ended up two days later in Luton, having been beaten and threatened.
It led to police raids at Kew Bridge Road on March 4. £61,000 in cash was found in one flat. In the next door flat 28,500 wraps of heroin and cocaine in £10 deals were seized.
Crack cocaine valued at between £60,000 and £200,000 was found in a sports bag in Greenwich on April 7. In a cupboard the police discovered an imitation Uzi gun.
On 28 May police raided an address at Gwendwr Road, Kensington and found 121g of cocaine.
The defendants pleaded guilty to two charges of supplying Class A drugs. A significant amount of the cocaine was at a very high purity of 88 percent, which indicated the gang were close to the importers.
Abdi Sugulle, 30, of Alnwick Road, Greenwich, who managed the Norwich line, had travelled to the West Country in an attempt to expand the operation to Plymouth and Exeter. He was jailed for 7 and a half years.
Ali Haji, 27, of Gwendwr Road, Kensington a dealer was sentenced to 7 years.
Shafic Ali, 26, of Spindle Close, Woolwich, London, a fixer who arranged to rent flats in false names, was sentenced to 7 years 3 months.
Mahad Hassan, 29, of Plumstead Road, Greenwich was working out of high-end rented flats in London on behalf of the gang. He was jailed for 6 years 4 months.
Jama Adam, 26, of Bastion Road, Abbey Wood, Plumstead, a courier, was jailed for 6 and a half years.
Abdi Nuur, 21, of Chestnut Close, Lewisham, who acted as a courier, was jailed for 6 years.
Spencer Musika, 19, of Kew Bridge Road, Brentford, a courier, was already serving 8 year for the kidnap of Arron Burnett, was jailed for 4 years consecutive.
Harry Levitt, 20, of Congleton Grove, Greenwich, an enforcer who is already serving 10 years for the same kidnap of Burnett, was jailed for 5 years consecutive.
Arron Burnett, 22, of Garratt Lane, Wandsworth, the kidnap victim, who dealt drugs from a house for 3 or 4 months, was jailed for 3 years.
A 16 year old boy from Romford, who was only 15 at the time of his arrest as a courier, was sentenced to 12 months' detention and training.
Judge Andrew Bright QC said: 'This was a sophisticated and well organised operation to supply individual wraps of heroin and cocaine from a network based in London to dealers in Norfolk, Suffolk and Bedfordshire.'
Chief Insp Lynne Cross said: 'This was an excellent outcome as result of Norfolk Constabulary working closely with our partners at ERSOU to target the supply of class A drugs into our city and other towns in the region.
'It has without doubt impacted the supply of class A drugs in to Norwich and we will continue to identify opportunities to work with partners in addressing the impact of this type of criminality.'
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