DRUGS AND GUNS GANG JAILED
ASSASSIN’S KIT, HUGE BLOCKS OF CANNABIS AND COCAINE PLUS BIG HAUL OF AMMUNITION SEIZED
AN ASSASSIN’S kit, ammunition, wedges of cash and huge blocks of drugs were recovered when police smashed a south Manchester crime gang.
The potentially lethal firepower of the Chorlton-based criminals and their ‘untouchable’ swagger were revealed in a series of photographs they took of each other.
They included one of the gang with a machine-gun across his shoulder and another flashing cash and expensive watches.
The group had been told by its leader to make sure they ‘carried a piece’ when transporting drugs.
Police recovered an assassin’s kit – a Makarov pistol with a silencer and seven bullets.
They also seized huge amounts of cocaine, cannabis and a vast arsenal of ammunition.
A train of events which led to the gang’s demise began on January 11 last year when officers from GMP’s anti-gang Xcalibre Task Force raided a house on Stanton Street in Gorse Hill, Stretford. Officers discovered 3.25kg of high-purity cocaine and a Taser disguised as a police torch.
Mohammed Dhiya Ali, 32, of Stanton Street, Gorse Hill, admitted to having the stun gun and the drugs, which he intended to sell on, and was jailed for more than nine years in March 2017.
Information police found on Ali’s mobile phone led to the gang unravelling.
It linked him directly to Choudhry Kamran Altaf, 30, of Kings Road, Old Trafford, Fahad Rasul, 29, of Wilbraham Road, Chorlton and Raheel Rehman, 29, of Lambton Road, Chorlton – the head of the gang.
Their homes were raided leading to new seizures of guns and drugs.
Under Altaf’s bed was the assassin’s kit.
On the way to the police station, Altaf broke down realising he wasn’t going to make the wedding he was planning for. Rasul – Rehman’s right hand man – claimed to be ‘police savvy’ and discussed police raids with his co-defendants, but was caught by surprise as officers arrived at his house. As soon as he saw them, he sent a message to Ihitsham Raja, 22, of Kings Road, Chorlton, and Mohammed Zia Munir, 43, of Withington Road, Whalley Range, instructing them to dispose of drugs and other items. He messaged them: “Feds at mine ged ridz.” In Rasul’s bedroom, officers found £6,700 in cash and cannabis. At Munir’s home, which he shared with his wife and children, they uncovered 1.75kg of cannabis, 180g of cocaine and 32 rounds of 7.62 ammunition. He admitted letting the gang use his garage as a safe location for drugs. At Raja’s house, £1,000 in cash was seized as well as a mobile phone which had a photo of a kilogram DC Chris Lees block of cocaine on it, taken at Ali’s house.
Once all the men were in custody, officers uncovered the true extent of Rehman’s hold over the others.
He had ordered them to arm themselves with guns to protect the enterprise, whenever they had drugs or cash on them.
“Get a piece you got bare doh on u,” was his instruction.
Now four of the group have been jailed for almost 32 years at Manchester Crown Court.
Ali was previously sentenced to nine years and seven months. Altaf will be sentenced on March 23.
Detective Constable Chris Lees, of GMP’s Serious Crime Division, said: “These six individuals thought they