Watch: Major Birmingham drugs gang jailed after probe sparked by rivals' attack
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A drugs gang who sold multiple kilos of heroin and cocaine across Birmingham has been jailed for a combined total of more than 77 years after a major investigation by our detectives.
Nine men from the city were convicted of conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine after a major 13-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court which ended in January.
Our probe began on 22 May, 2021 when a rival group pulled up outside a house on Oakwood Road in Sparkhill, which the gang was using to prepare the drugs for onwards sale.
The rival group emerged from an Audi and a BMW, carrying machetes and a shotgun.
They kicked open the front door, where they attacked Mohammed Ishaq with a machete leaving a large slash wound and injuries to his arm.
The rival group fled, and paramedics were called and alerted us to what had happened.
Knowing police would be on their way, the drugs gang fled the address with drugs which they tried to hide nearby before officers arrived.
When officers arrived at the scene of the attack, witnesses told them they’d seen a group of men hiding items in bushes at nearby Sparkhill Park.
There, we recovered the mixing bowl full of brown powder and wrapped plastic bags. In all it was more than 8kg of heroin and more than a 1kg of crack cocaine. It was valued at £226,70 – but would have been worth much more once mixed and prepared for sale on the street.
Inside the home on Oakwood Road, we found drugs, mixing agents, scales, sieves, razor blades mixing bowls and plastic bags.
The rival gang drove around Sparkhill Park in an effort to recover the drugs before our officers did – with one member even phoning 999 with a false report of a shooting nearby in a failed attempt to divert officers away from the park.
Our investigation intensified with major CCTV trawls and mobile phone analysis to identify the group, and they were all arrested in a series of early morning raids on 20 October that year.
We established that they controlled at least six separate drugs lines which customers would contact to buy class A drugs across Birmingham.
They were linked to eight separate drugs seizures in an 18-month period spanning 2020 and 2021. We recovered a photo of one of the gang posing for a photo with bowls of the drugs.
The nine brought to justice were:
- Mohammed Imran Khan, aged 37, of Imperial Road, Bordesley Green – Group leader who made a stamp advertising one of the phone numbers of one of the lines and its opening hours. Drove others around in his BMW trying to recover the drugs before police did. Jailed for 14 years and two months.
- Mohammed Ishaq, aged 32, of Knowle Road, Sparkhill – Was attacked in the Oakwood Road house where he was preparing drugs – Jailed for 10 years and two months.
- Kaleem Ullah Khan, aged 37, of Arden Road, Saltley – Was seen leaving the Oakwood Road house after the attack with a mixing bowl in a bin bag. Jailed for 13 years and three months.
- Sohail Hussain, aged 31, of Priorygate Way, Bordesley Green – Seen leaving the Oakwood Road house after the attack, carrying a machete and bag of cocaine – Jailed for nine years and nine months.
- Riaz Mohammed, aged 39, of Carlton Road, Bordesley Green – Jailed for seven years and six months.
- Anwar Awais, aged 28, of Allens Croft Road, Kings Heath – Was in the Oakwood Road house when Ishaq was attacked, and phoned paramedics – Jailed for seven years and four months.
- Mohammed Hamza Butt, aged 25, of Cobham Road, Bordesley Green – Was seen leaving the Oakwood Road house wearing a distinctive gilet, which was found covering the drugs dumped in Sparkhill Park – Jailed for eight years.
- Nowshad Mohammed, aged 29, of Bordesley Green, Birmingham – Seen at the Oakwood Road address. Jailed for seven years and two months.
- Ahmed Iqbal, aged 19, of Cherrywood Road, Bordesley Green – Was seen leaving the Oakwood Road house after the attack. Will be sentenced at a later date.
Clockwise from top left - Mohammed Butt, Anwar Awais, Nowshad Mohammed, Sohail Hussain, Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Ishaq, Riaz Mohammed, Kaleem Khan and Ahmed Iqbal
Det Sgt Danny Wilson, who led the investigation, said: “This was a gang that was trading in the human misery of class A drugs – exploiting vulnerable people and fuelling a violent trade.
“Our investigation was triggered by an act of extreme violence against the gang, and that exposed the property at Oakwood Road as the headquarters of the operation.
“They were at the higher end of the supply chain, and their illegal product was being used to supply people across the city.
“These lengthy sentences send a powerful message to those involved in the drugs trade that we are coming for you and you will spend years behind bars.”
We’re relentless in our fight against serious and organised crime in the West Midlands.
Under Operation Target, we are disrupting and arresting those involving in guns, drugs, money laundering and exploitation.
Find out more 👉 Operation Target | West Midlands Police