Police make 124 arrests in war on drugs in Worcester

The South Worcester Proactive CID Team are targeting 'County Lines' drug dealers, where narcotics are brought into the county from other cities.

Officers have shut down 26 drug lines, seized over £40,000 in cash and recovered weapons including machetes, axes, acid, ammonia, knives and CS canisters.

High profile dealers jailed include Kasim Ali, who was sentenced to four years in prison in March this year, for selling heroin and crack cocaine.

Detective Sergeant Luke Papps, who is head of the team, said he believed there had been a significant drop in violent crime in Worcester as a result of targeting drug dealers.

"Our combined efforts have removed dangerous offenders from the community," he said.

After a spike in drug-related and violent crime, a team was formed to focus on County Lines as part of the police's Operation Blade war on drug dealing, launched in September 2017. DS Papps' team consists of one sergeant and eight officers.

DS Papps said: “The overall objective of the operation was prevention and detection of drug related crime and disorder and protecting the most vulnerable from harm."

The team – which is also part of Operation Protect which tackles serious organised crime – has daily intelligence briefings to identify new people dealing in the South Worcestershire area.

Many of the gangs use a certain phone number to organise their dealing. They travel from cities such as Birmingham and Liverpool into smaller areas like Worcester and often use the homes of local addicts to sell drugs – a practice known as 'cuckooing'.

“Sometimes there is coercion or threats, but sometimes drug users will allow it to happen” said DS Papps. "Sometimes the residents are offered free drugs in exchange for allowing the dealers to use their address."

DS Papps' team uses warrants to visit these cuckoo addresses and if someone is found to be vulnerable they safeguard them. This takes the form of regular visits and work with housing and rehabilitation organisations such as Fortis Living and Swanswell.

Sometimes children and young people are used by the gangs to carry drugs.

In one recent investigation, a 13-year-old was found to be concealing drugs in their rear, and they were then helped by police to get the appropriate care.

In 2017, Kasim Ali was identified as a Birmingham gang member involved in the ‘AKY’ drug line.

DS Papps told the Worcester News: “He was arrested having driven into Worcester. The address was going to be subject of a closure order. We believed he was carrying drugs internally.”

The team asked the court to allow an extension of the time they could keep Ali in custody and he was held for nearly five days and subsequently he went to the toilet and passed £1,000 worth of class A drugs.

Ali was ultimately sentenced to four years in prison for his involvement in drug dealing.

DS Papps also said that police have had to deal with rival drugs gangs who turn violent on each other.

“We have also had incidents where gangs have targeted each other," he said. "At one address, a rival gang attended and used ammonia.”

Kasim Ali case

Kasim Ali was described as the ‘regional manager’ of a drug dealing enterprise after peddling heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of Worcester for 18 months.

Ali also roped in his cousin, Hassan Tasleem, to deal drugs in the city.

The Dudley dealers were arrested outside a drugs den at 6A Teme Road, Tolladine, Worcester on November 6 last year.

Ali, aged 23, of Aston Road, Dudley, had 36 wraps of heroin and 59 wraps of crack cocaine hidden up his backside. Tasleem, aged 20, of Richmond Road, Dudley had 33 wraps of crack cocaine.

Ali admitted six counts of being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine and two of possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply.

Tasleem admitted two counts of possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply.

Giles Nelson, prosecuting, said Ali had been dealing drugs between April 2016 and his final arrest in November 2017, supplying ‘a busy market here in Worcester’ across county lines. He described it as ‘a serious commercial operation’ and said, in Ali’s case, there was ‘a pattern of persistence’.

Ali was arrested for drug dealing on May 11, 2016 in Merstow Green, on September 10, 2017 in Bromsgrove, on September 30, 2017 in St Paul’s Street, Worcester and finally on November 6, 2017 in Teme Road, Worcester.

‘Painstaking’ police work established phone links between Ali and drug users. Messages had been sent advertising his presence to 30 customers.

Ali had a benefit of £25,618 in the enterprise but £1,058 will be confiscated from him.

Sophie O’Sullivan, defending both, said Ali had been a drug user at the time and referred to his lack of previous convictions.

She said of Tasleem there had been ‘an element of exploitation’ of him and he had fallen into drug use over an eight month period. His early guilty plea and a testimonial from his partner were also mentioned.

Sentencing the duo at Worcester Crown Court in March, Judge Jim Tindal said of Ali: “He was, for want of a better phrase, the regional manager. It’s am aggravating feature that he recruited his cousin.”

Ali was jailed for four years.

Tasleem received a sentence of two years, suspended for two years and must complete 200 hours of unpaid work.