For drug gangs peddling illegal substances throughout Wales their phone numbers are a vital cog in the wheel of their criminal networks. The numbers, known as lines, are given coded names and are used by dealers to send out bulk 'text bombs' to customers and organise the distribution and delivery of illegal drugs.
The practice has become increasingly prevalent as part of the drug-dealing phenomenon known as county lines which sees organised crime groups in large cities in England target cities and towns around Wales for their illegal operations. The drug line numbers will flood messages out to perhaps hundreds of drug users in an area at once with the substances being delivered to the area in bulk for onward sale.
Often those higher up the chain will get their local runners to use vulnerable people to perform street deals for them or they will 'cuckoo' their homes by taking them over and using them as bases. Here are some of the drugs lines which have been taken down by police in Wales and the people and operations behind them.
Read more: Get the latest court cases sent to your email inbox with our Crime & Punishment newsletter
The Black Jack line
Convicted sex offender and narcotics trafficker Waleed Naji ran the Black Jack line for an organised crime group in London. Following his arrest his girlfriend Nura Ahmed took over control of the drugs line. The gang was responsible for shipping significant amounts of heroin and cocaine to south Wales. When Metropolitan Police officers raided Naji's house in Wandsworth they found "a complete drug dealer's kit" in a bag with more than 100 wraps of heroin and crack, weighing scales, cling film, gloves, mobile phones and sim cards, and £800 in cash. Shortly after he was arrested activity resumed on the Black Jack line with Ahmed taking control. Waleed Naji, of St John's Drive, Wandsworth, London, was sentenced to four years in prison and Nura Ahmed, of Stepney Causeway, Stepney, London, was jailed for 16 months.
The Freddie line
Zeeshan Sajid operated the Freddie line for a London-based crime group. He was arrested in the early hours of the morning when police stopped a Volvo V60 in the Uplands area of Swansea. Sajid claimed he had hired the vehicle from Europcar at Stansted airport. In the car were wraps of heroin and five mobile phones – one of which was a black iPhone which was the designated Freddie line number and which contained the contact details of 80 known drug users in Swansea. The phone had also been used to search Booking.com for hotels and other forms of temporary accommodation in the city. Sajid was questioned and then released under investigation but the gang continued to run its Freddie line and Sajid continued to be involved. Following a joint South Wales Police and Metropolitan Police operation officers subsequently raided a flat in Barking in East London where they found Sajiid, more than 100 wraps of crack cocaine and heroin, a "zombie hatchet knife", £6,000 in cash, and a "large number" of phones. Zeeshan Sajid, of Springfield Road, Walthamstow, London, was sentenced to five years in prison.
The AJ line
Ieuan Thomas was a trusted member of the gang running the AJ drugs line. A police operation which dismantled the operation found he had bought credits for the AJ line number at a petrol station in Landore in Swansea. In total officers recovered 717g of cocaine worth around £25,000 from various locations in Thomas' Bonymaen flat including including under a seat on the sofa, in a cupboard in the hallway, in a sports drink bottle, and under the seat of his off-road motorbike in the bedroom. Swansea Crown Court heard that given the amount of cocaine being stored in the 27-year-old defendant's flat it was clear he was "very trusted" by gang members. Ieuan Anthony Thomas, of Myrddin Road, Bonymaen, Swansea, was sentenced to a total of five and a half years in prison.
The Lewis line
The Lewis line was described as “the busiest drugs line in Cardiff” and was making than £6,000 a day. Liam Wall, Lee Smith, Connor Morse, and Christopher Elgifari were involved in the operation which was supplying significant quantities of heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, and cannabis until police intercepted their BMW on the M4 at Coldra as it returned from Liverpool. Officers found drugs worth £11,500 inside the vehicle but the defendants denied all knowledge of the substances with Elgifari claiming they had just been on a “road trip to the mountains”. Among the photos recovered from the defendants' phones was one of Smith weighing a package of 2kg of cocaine.
Liam Wall, aged 27, from Cath Cob Close in St Mellons, Cardiff, was jailed for nine years and seven months; Lee Smith, aged 28, from Ffordd James McGhan, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, was jailed for eight years; Connor Morse, aged 22, from Brynheulog in Pentwyn, Cardiff, was jailed for eight years; Christopher Elgifari, aged 25, from Bryn Celyn, Pentwyn, Cardiff was jailed for three years and seven months.
The Logan line
When police stopped George Medcraft and Nathan Parsons as they drove through Caerphilly in a white BMW officers recovered a small amount of cannabis – but an examination of phone downloads revealed the pair's real involvement in the drug world. The phone turned out to be a drugs line known as the Logan line which was being used to sell cocaine and crack cocaine. A subsequent search of Parsons' home address uncovered 170g of cocaine worth £17,000, traces of crack cocaine, 28g of cannabis worth £375, and various drug paraphernalia. An iPhone was also seized which contained videos shot by Parsons of various amounts of drugs, cash, and videos of himself smoking a spliff while rapping.
George Medcraft, aged 20, of Cwarrau Mawr Farm Lane, Penyrheol, Caerphilly, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison and 19-year-old Nathan Parsons, of Coed Cochwyn Avenue, Llanishen, Cardiff, was sentenced to 40 months of detention in a young offenders' institute.
The Scouse Ryan line
Liverpudlian Callan Holland was responsible for running the Scouse Ryan line in Swansea – an operation he became involved in just three days after being released on licence from prison where he was serving a sentence for heroin dealing. Holland recruited people in Swansea to sell drugs on his behalf and to drive consignments of cocaine from Merseyside to south Wales.. As part of their investigation into the Scouse Ryan line police carried out a targeted stop of a Nissan X-Trail SUV near junction 34 of the M4 as it was returning to Swansea from Liverpool. At the wheel was Magdelana Lessenew-Lesniakowsk and on the back seat was a bag containing £11,000-worth of Class A drugs. Holland was subsequently found at a house in the Brynhyfryd area of Swansea belonging to Neil Williams and further inquiries led to a fourth member of the conspiracy called Kelly Brandrick.
Callan Mark Holland, of Clarence Drive, Cuddington, Cheshire – who was described as the prime mover of the dealing operation – was sentenced to 49 months in prison and Neil Tony Stanley Williams, of Llangyfealch Road, Brynhyfryd, Swansea, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Magdelana Lessenew-Lesniakowsk, of Victoria Road, Gowerton was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and Kelly Brandrick, of Neath Road, Plasmarl, Swansea was sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for two years and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and a mental health treatment requirement.
The Ginge line
Ashley Leonard was running the Ginge line, which was found to be sending bulk text messages to almost 100 addicts at a time. Police swooped on 29-year-old Leonard as he drive through the Mount Pleasant area of Swansea in a Mini. Officers used their cars to block his escape but he rammed a car, mounted the pavement, and hit a house in his attempts to flee. When the Mini became wedged officers used batons to smash the windows and drag out Leonard and his passenger, 20-year-old Ryan Jones, who acted as his runner delivering drugs. Leonard, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to a total of four years and eight months imprisonment and disqualified from driving for 52 months while Jones, also of no fixed abode, was sentenced to three years of detention in a young offenders' institution.
The Scouse Kev line
The Scouse Kev line was run by a Liverpool-based organised crime group shipping large quantities of heroin and cocaine into Swansea. When police received intelligence that key members of the gang were in the Townhill area they mounted an arrest operation. Adam Lomax was arrested on the street and found to be carrying 32 heroin deals and 34 crack cocaine deals. The house where the 27-year-old had been staying in Elphin Gardens was searched but nothing was found. However inquiries led detectives to another property in nearby Geiriol Road which was occupied by 38-year-old Lianne Jenkins. Officers forced entry to the second house and found Jenkins and 23-year-old Reece Jimoh along with 305 wraps of heroin and 465 wraps of crack cocaine, almost £4,500 in cash, and a number of mobiles. One of these phones turned out to be the Scouse Kev drug order line.
Adam James Lomax, of Barkbeth Road, Huyton, Liverpool, was sentenced to 31 months in prison; Reece Kayode John Jimoh, of Lydia Ann Street, Liverpool, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison; and Lianne Zara Jenkins, of Geiriol Road, Townhill, Swansea, was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison for allowing premises to be used for Class A drug dealing.
The Dredd line
Jahwan Blake had spent two years as part of an organised crime group peddling drugs in Cardiff using the Dredd line until he was caught thanks to regular calls to his mum in London. As detectives tracked calls made by target phones they spotted one person who was being contacted by four separate numbers and that person turned out to be 37-year-old Blake's mother. As part of the police operation more than £7,000-worth of crack cocaine and heroin was recovered along with £1,600 in cash. Jahwan Blake, of Topaz Street, Adamsdown, Cardiff, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
The Alex and Nunny lines
Devonn Weston and Blake Sharpe were responsible for running a drug supply operation in Llandrindod Wells which exploited vulnerable people in the Powys town to deal on their behalf. The 23-year-olds controlled a total of six operations in Wales and in communities including Nuneaton and Tamworth selling Class A drugs via their Alex and Nunny lines. Devonn Weston, from Jackson Street, Oldbury, West Midlands, was sentenced to six years and eight months in priso, and Blake Sharpe, of Shrubbery Avenue, Tipton, West Midlands was jailed for six years.
The Z line
When police carrying out a covert operation swooped on Bashir Ali as he left a block of flats in Sketty Park in Swansea he replied: "How did you know where I am? I’m just doing some shots. Someone gave them to me." When searched the 21-year-old was found to be carrying rocks of crack cocaine and £600 in cash. He refused to reveal the pin for his phone but police were able to use specialist software to crack it and on the device they found a record of 350 short calls to and from a London-based county lines drug gang known as the Z line over the previous week. Bashir Ali, of Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, London, was sentenced to 22 months in prison.
READ NEXT:
The face of the Swansea man who travelled to London and stabbed a stranger to death
Mum of five-year-old Logan Mwangi refused permission to appeal against her conviction for his murder
Paedophile spared jail term as he would be 'vulnerable' in prison
Football club boss claimed abandoned shed was gym in Covid grant fraud
Dad went 'berserk' on cycle path and attacked two men 'mercilessly' punching and stamping on them
You can sign up to our regular Crime and Punishment newsletter here while this interactive tool allows you to check the latest crime statistics for your area:
