An Oldham based organised crime family flooded the north of England with almost 100 kilos of cocaine and heroin worth millions of pounds. Faizal Hussain Jnr has been locked up for 16 years for his role in the huge drugs ring, which saw class A drugs peddled in their home town as well as cities including Leeds, Birmingham and Liverpool.
His father Faizal Hussain Snr was also alleged as being involved in the plot. A court heard that he has 'fled from justice'.
Hussain Jnr, 31, was another of the drug dealers exposed by the hack of the highly secretive EncroChat network, described as being like WhatsApp for criminals. The gang were linked to more than 96 kilos of heroin and cocaine.
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In EncroChat messages poured over by the police, 20 kilos of cocaine was identified which was said to be worth more than £1 million. A further 10 kilos of heroin was identified, said to be worth up to £340,000.
And officers also linked them to 47 kilos of cocaine and further kilos of heroin. "You Faizal Hussain Jnr together with your father played leading roles directing the operation of an Oldham based organised crime family," Judge Alan Conrad QC said at Manchester Crown Court.
"This was a drug dealing operation of very considerable quality, highly organised and capable of yielding huge profits, while causing misery to the ultimate users." Hussain Jnr played a leading role in the gang, which supplied drugs across the north of England.
They continued in dealing huge quantities of heroin and cocaine after the hacking of EncroChat in June 2020. Police seized more than 14 kilos of cocaine from an address in Bury last year.
Hussain, of Cranbrook Street, Oldham, was involved in logistics and management within the gang and organised wholesale drug deals. He was also directly involved in the collecting and delivering of drugs.
Rezwan Javed, 45, also known as Raja Res, acted as a courier for the gang and was jailed for eight years. Javed, of Meadow Close, Burnley, did not have an EncroChat phone but was found to be involved in transporting more than nine kilos of cocaine and about three kilos of heroin.
After the hearing, Detective Constable Marc Walby, of GMP's Serious and Organised Crime Group, said: "This gang thought they were able to avoid detection by using these devices, however they have instead presented us with a treasure trove of evidence that has enabled us to take this criminal group and their illicit enterprise off our streets and away from society.
"The quantities of drugs we are talking about here are beyond substantial and the removal of these individuals will have a tangible difference on the streets of Oldham and beyond as copious amounts of class A drugs will not be orchestrated across towns and cities around the region and beyond."
Hussain Jnr and Javed pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
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