The Mail on Sunday

Drug cafe exposed by MoS uses ‘UK’s tiniest crook’ in cynical ads

Dealers’ shameless ploy after f irst cannabis bar we uncovered is raided

- By Jake Ryan

BRITAIN’S ‘ smallest prisoner’ has been recruited to promote a cannabis cafe exposed last month by The Mail on Sunday.

Burglar Aiden Henry, who is 3ft and uses the nickname ‘ Likkle Man’, was released from prison earlier this year and promptly promised to ‘do good’.

But instead the 28- year-old last week began appearing in promotiona­l videos and pictures for the Rich Nerdz cannabis cafe in Shoreditch, East London.

One shows Henry, who was jailed for 32 months in 2017 for stealing jewellery and car keys from a house in Rugby, Warwickshi­re, strutting through the cafe and dancing with glamorous models.

He is also seen in a photograph on the venue’s Twitter page beside the Rich Nerdz cafe sign.

Henry, who has previously boasted t hat ‘ prison made me famous’, has attracted more than 350,000 Instagram followers since his release in March.

He did not respond to a request for comment.

He angered prison chiefs when videos of him performing stunts such as leaping into a bin bag of water were made using mobile phones, which are illegal behind bars, and promptly went viral online.

Despite being exposed for selling super-strength skunk four weeks ago, cafe organisers were last night still using Henry in their promotiona­l material for Rich Nerdz.

The revelation follows a police raid last week on ‘ The Den’, a second cannabis speakeasy exposed by this newspaper, where officers recovered an estimated £ 20,000 worth of cannabis and cash.

More than 150 officers stormed the premises, cuffing and searching 52 people in a makeshift police tent pitched on waste ground outside the cafe in Limehouse, East London. It is one of four cannabis cafes targeted by Scotland Yard ‘within the last month’, resulting in 60 people being given warnings.

But Rich Nerdz, which stands on a busy high street, continues to operate and was last night recommendi­ng that people contact them on Instagram for ‘guestlist’ entry.

The cafe’s previous Instagram account was closed down after this newspaper’s investigat­ion, which revealed how powerful cannabis strains known as ‘Cali (California) weed’ were being sold for up to £40 per gram.

Rich Nerdz’ ssoledi rector, Khabeer Khan, 30, has registered the cafe at Companies House as a bar serving food. Tests on cannabis bought by undercover reporters at Rich Nerdz and The Den showed it contained only its psychoacti­ve element THC, without any of the moderating CBD.

In the UK it is illegal to sell cannabis substances containing THC, with the drug classified as Class B, which carries a maximum 14-year jail sentence for supply.

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 ??  ?? CONVICTED BURGLAR: Aiden Henry promoting Rich Nerdz. Far left: Last week’s raid on The Den after our exposé in July, left
CONVICTED BURGLAR: Aiden Henry promoting Rich Nerdz. Far left: Last week’s raid on The Den after our exposé in July, left

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