A gang leader carried on running a drug-dealing enterprise from inside prison after manipulating a string of people to do his bidding. Shekiel Sands led an organised crime group that sold copious amounts of heroin and crack cocaine from Nottinghamshire to other parts of the country.
A key part of the group's operation involved the deliberate exploitation of children and vulnerable people to help them move the drugs to different areas, according to Nottinghamshire Police. Sands and his gang were ultimately snared by officers following a coordinated investigation that saw several police forces and departments work together to shut the supply network down.
The drug dealer ran the operation for several years, including between January 2019 and April 2020, when he carried on pulling the strings from inside prison. Sands, 27, used around 30 hidden burner phones with longstanding county lines numbers to set up drug deals across Derbyshire and Oxfordshire and to communicate with his gang.
