Drugs gang busted after slab of cocaine lands at feet of police officer
A gang who stashed £160,000 worth of drugs in rented houses in the Black Country have been jailed for a total of 52 years.
The crooks were rumbled when a slab of cocaine was hurled from a bedroom window as the net closed in - only for it to fall at the feet of a police officer.
Police stormed the house last September following an eight-month undercover operation to monitor the movements of the drug crew.
Caught by surprise, and in a desperate bid to distance themselves from the drugs, they tossed the house brick-sized block of cocaine out of a first-floor window.
The drugs fell near the officer who was at the ‘safe house’ in Hagley Road West, Quinton, used by the gang to cut, weigh and bag-up drugs.
Further investigations led to the discovery of a huge haul of cannabis being uncovered at rented properties in Brookfields Road and Pitcairn Road, Oldbury, and Bloomfield Street West, Halesowen.
The 11-strong gang were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court in connection with a sophisticated cocaine and cannabis supply network with links to Milton Keynes and Weston-super-Mare.
A car seized from the criminals was found to have a secret compartment hiding drugs.
The three main players, Erion Shyti, 38, Alush Staka, 25, and Xhulio Dervishi, 23, were jailed for 10 years, nine years and six years, four months respectively for conspiracy to supply cocaine and produce cannabis.
Granit Ismajlal, aged 31, was convicted of the same offences and is to be sentenced at a later date. All four are of no fixed address.
Nine pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing but 27-year-old Mohammed Hussain and 26-year-old Prince Martin-Fullerton were found guilty of conspiracy to supply drugs. Hussain, of Elmhurst Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, was jailed for four years.
Martin-Fullerton, originally from Birmingham but now of West Street, Leicester, supplied cocaine and heroin destined for the Weston-super-Mare area and was jailed for 11 years.
Detective Constable Ben Edwards, from West Midlands Police's Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: "This was a gang of suppliers who were providing drugs in large quantities for other drug dealers in the West Midlands, Weston Super Mare and Milton Keynes.
"Their drugs empire unravelled after police spotted a drug deal in January 2016 involving a Weston-super-Mare drug dealer who had travelled to Birmingham to restock his drugs line.
"Officers stopped Husssain and Martin-Fullerton in a car in Birmingham and they tried to discard drugs by hurling £4,500 worth of cocaine out of a car window.
"Four cars believed to be used by the drug runners were also seized and when forensic experts searched one of the cars, a secret compartment used to conceal drugs was found."
Aaron Mitchell aged 24 of Broughton Road, Handsworth, and Agron Nurja, aged 25, of Oakworth Avenue, Milton Keynes, were jailed for two years, eight months, and two years respectively for conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Steven Stonier, aged 37, of Rilstone Road, Quinton, got two years, 10 months for conspiracy to produce cannabis. Elson Hajdaraj, 27, and Silvio Arzedi, 26, both of no fixed address, were both jailed for two years for the same offence.
