Brutal lives of youngsters turned into drug pushers
The 16-year-old who sold heroin in a Kinder egg
A teenager collared by police sold wraps of heroin stashed inside a chocolate Kinder egg on one of the coldest days of the year.
The 1 -year-old, who was one of the youngest dealers to be charged under Norfolk Police’s Operation Granary, was caught selling drugs in the middle of a snowstorm.
Prosecutor Chris Youell told Norwich crown court he was involved in dealing to an undercover officer known as ‘Tommo’ in Norwich between February 27 and March , even selling heroin on ‘the worst day of the Beast from the East’.
‘Everything in Norwich had ground to a halt apart from, it would appear, activities such as this,’ he said. The teen was seen on one occasion with 30 wraps of drugs in a plastic bag and a further 15 in a Kinder egg. Damien Moore, defending, said the youngster – who was given a two-year youth rehabilitation order last month – was in care before getting involved with selling drugs.
Teen ‘cuckoos’ who seized occupied flat for their base
Idris Mohammed left his care placement in north London to take over a flat in Norwich, where he sold heroin on behalf of a county lines gang. The 19-year-old drug runner teamed up with Kamal John, 18, who was in care in Hatfield, Hertfordshire and was described as a bright teenager wanting to earn extra cash ahead of university.
The pair, who became the ‘main phone holders’ for a county line known as Rico, acted as ‘cuckoos’ when they took over a flat in Norwich to use as their base, forcing the occupants to flee for their lives.
Tipped off, police arrested the pair at the property in January and found heroin and their dealing phone, which contained mass texts sent out to advertise drugs deals to customers. In court last month, David Stewart, defending, described John as an ‘erudite and personable’ teenager who had applied for university but had been unable to give up drug dealing as he felt pressurised by those above him. He was handed a two-year detention and training order, while Mohammed was jailed for three years and four months.
Joe Hingston, defending, said he had a ‘wretched existence’, adding: There is certainly nothing glamorous about the role he was undertaking – living in drug users’ houses in squalid conditions in Norwich.’
Runaway aged 17 who set up his own county line
After running away from home, a boy of 17 became a ‘self-employed drug dealer’ by establishing his own county line.
The teenager set up his own phone line in Norwich nicknamed ‘Carlos’. He was caught in March after telling ‘Tommo’ he was ‘doing his own thing’. Jailed last month for two years and eight months, prosecutor Chris Youell described him as a ‘competent drug dealer’. He had already been arrested in January by a uniformed officer who was looking for him as a missing person. He had several phones and drug wraps, but was released under investigation. Mr Youell
said: ‘Having been caught red-handed that doesn’t seem to have stopped him from carrying on to make his living as a drug dealer. He knew the police were looking at him but he carried on.’
Vulnerable girl addict who peddled drugs from a taxi
LAUREN Brown was 1 and ‘extremely vulnerable’ when she became a drug dealer for a county lines network known as ‘Buzz’.
She was caught by an undercover officer after selling him drugs from a taxi. Norwich Crown Court was told she began to deal to earn money, but was shunned by the gang when she started taking class A drugs herself. Gavin Cowe, defending, said: ‘This is a case of a young, naive, vulnerable person becoming caught up in offending as a last resort.’ Brown, now 18, was given a two-year youth rehabilitation order this month.