£2,800-a-night cocaine dealer locked up as County Lines network busted
A County Lines dealer who boasted of earning nearly £3,000 a night from selling cocaine has been locked up.
Aaqib Ali was the key player in supplying cocaine and heroin on a commercial scale at street level for a network operating between Birmingham and Warwickshire.
The 29-year-old, of Jardine Road in Aston, was sentenced to 10 years at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
The Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) acted on information and executed warrants at address linked to Ali in Aston and Erdington in August.
It led to Class A drugs being recovered from one of them along with £20,000 in cash and his drugs phone and a substantial amount of cocaine and heroin was found in his car.
Analysis of his mobile phone showed it had been registered in a false name and there were messages which showed he was running a drugs network.
One message claimed he was making the equivalent of £2,800 a night from selling cocaine alone.
Ali had only been released from prison on licence last December after being convicted of other drug offences and immediately set about returning to his criminal ways.
Detective Constable Louise Ford, from the County Lines Taskforce at ROCU, said: "There's no doubt Ali was the one running this significant drugs supply chain.
"There were vast phone messages which proved he was the kingpin and while he will have recruited others to help, he was the one coordinating it all.
"We're confident we've managed to crush his network and remove a prominent drug dealer from our streets.
"It also shows that if you return to crime you will be caught again, and face even more time behind bars."
