Drug line tackled as two dealers sentenced

Two men have been jailed after officers took down a sophisticated drug line operating across Burton-on-Trent and Birmingham.

Suspicions were raised about the operation when we started looking at the activity of a mobile phone linked to drug supply in the area. Between 18 May and 1 December (2022), the phone received 16,035 calls and made 13,179 outgoing calls. It also sent more than 8,000 text messages and received 8,499 in the same period.

Officers from the Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) then started proactive work to investigate the people linked to the phone. This led them to Hakim Hussain, 26, from Burton-on-Trent, and Tazeem Shakil, 31, from Balsall Heath, Birmingham. 

On 8 December (2022), officers from Staffordshire Police and West Midlands Police carried out four warrants across Burton-on-Trent and Birmingham. They were both arrested in these raids.

Hussain tried to throw the drugs away from his bedroom window in a shoe box. We found crack cocaine, cash and the drug phone in the address.

Shakil had a large amount of cocaine on him when he was arrested.

Both of them were questioned in custody and charged for the offences. They were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday 24 November.

(Shakil (left) and Hussain (right))

Hussain was jailed for seven years after he admitted being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin.

Shakil was sentenced to 45 months after he admitted the same offences.

Detective Constable Dan Gibbs, who investigated the drug line, said: “Regional officers and forces have worked hard to secure the sentences of two significant players in a drug line which blighted communities in East Staffordshire and the West Midlands.

“Their operations stretched across two forces and was taken down through proactive policing, information sharing amongst forces and partnership working.

“Officers in the ROCU are continuing to investigate new leads to protect communities from harm and put a stop to those blighting them will illegal drugs and organised criminality.”

We’ve been disrupting and pursuing criminals who plan, organise and commit serious criminal offences across the county, including drug supply, illegal firearms, knife crime, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, as part of Op Target.

To read more about the initiative, visit: Major operation to target serious organised crime launched | Staffordshire Police