A London drugs gang recruited and used Welsh children living in care homes to deliver Class A drugs on its behalf. The vulnerable youngsters and supplies of heroin and crack cocaine were shuttled around Cardiff in taxis booked by gang members running the so-called "Banks" drugs line.
Londoner Abdilgader Yasin had been sent to the Welsh capital from London to manage the operation while Sultan Ismail helped to run the Cardiff end of the network by directing street dealers and "runners". Sending the pair to prison a judge at Cardiff Crown Court said they had "exploited and manipulated" vulnerable children and involved them in the world of drugs.
Byron Broadstock, prosecuting, said Yasin and Ismail had been responsible for holding a county lines drug phone known as the "Banks" line and for taking orders from customers and the directing others to supply Class A drugs to users. He said some of those doing the supplying on the streets were children living in the care of local authorities – one of whom was aged under 16.
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The prosecutor said after a series of arrests of people caught both supplying and purchasing heroin and crack in Cardiff the Banks drugs line number was found in their phones. Inquiries led to Yasin and Ismail and it emerged Yasin had been booking taxis which were being used to resupply or "reload" street dealers. The Londoner's DNA was subsequently recovered from wraps of heroin and crack delivered to a street dealer by a cab.
The court heard one of the runners being used by the gang was a child under 16 living in care who had been reported missing from a Valleys council area. When he was arrested he was found with 25 wraps of crack cocaine. Another runner was a teenager living in care in Cardiff and the police investigation found the gang had been booking taxis to collect him from his care home. The prosecutor said that within an hour of this second teenager's arrest Yasin had taken a taxi from Ismail's flat in Caerau in Cardiff to the city's railway station and returned to London. When both defendants were subsequently arrested they answered "no comment" to all questions asked. Mr Broadstock said it was the prosecution case that both defendants had been operating the Banks line and had been directing others and resupplying them.
Abdilgader Yasin, aged 37, of Carlina Place, Conniburrow, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, and 30-year-old Sultan Ismail, of Ogmore Road, Caerau, Cardiff, had both previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin and being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. Yasin's pleas were entered on the basis that he had been a user of Class A drugs for many years and a gambling addict and that he had been "instructed" by those to whom he owed money to go to Cardiff to manage a drugs supply line. Ismail's pleas were entered on the basis that he had accrued a significant debt through his addiction to heroin and crack and that as part of his repayment of those debts he had allowed Yasin to stay at his address. The prosecutor said the Crown did not take issue with the basis of pleas entered by the defendants. The court heard Yasin has a previous conviction for possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply from 2007 along with convictions for the simple possession of drugs while Ismail has previous convictions for simple possession.
Tom Roberts, for Yasin, said he defendant had not become involved in dealing out of any desire to lead a lavish lifestyle but through his addiction to Class A drugs which had led him into debt. He said that whenever someone working underneath the defendant in the operation was arrested and their drugs were seized those losses would be added to the debt the defendant owed those further up the chain.
William Bebb, for Ismail, said the defendant had expressed genuine remorse and regret for his actions and recognises the impact they will have on his family and on his partner. He said the defendant wants to draw a line under this chapter of his life and, upon release from the inevitable custodial sentence he was facing, find employment.
Jude Matthew Porter-Bryant said the pair had been involved in supplying an resupplying street dealers and an aggravating factor was the "exploitation and manipulation of youngsters" who they had involved in the world of drugs. With one-quarter discounts for their guilty pleas Yasin was sentenced to 54 months in prison and Ismail to 49 months. They will each serve up to half those periods in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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