Music videos featuring Lamborghini cars, Rolex watches, and bottles of Bollinger champagne helped detectives to crack a drugs conspiracy and put the ringleaders behind bars.
A total of 12 offenders were sentenced yesterday (3 June) for their involvement in the County Lines operation, which flooded communities with Class A drugs.
The police investigation into the group followed a series of unconnected arrests of key players.
The scale of the operation only emerged as officers in the force’s dedicated County Lines team were able to piece together the various strands of information.
Investigations also uncovered a number of music videos in which the gang posed with luxury items and boasted about how much money they were earning from the drugs trade.
Analysis of the 13 drug lines identified suggests that if only half the customers placing orders were eventually supplied, it would have involved millions of pounds’ worth of business and around 15kg of Class A drugs.
Sipho Ncube was arrested after he ran from the scene of a road crash and was discovered to be in possession of a mobile phone being used for the Mansfield line.
Kamel Mantock and Bayleigh Reid were arrested in November 2022 as they dealt drugs in Sutton-in-Ashfield. The pair were both found to have Class A drugs stuffed in clingfilm in their underpants.
As the investigation spiralled, officers carried out a series of raids on properties connected with the gang across multiple counties.
Drugs, a Rolex watch, and gold teeth grills were found during a warrant at Ncube’s flat in The Picture Works, Nottingham, on 10 February 2023.
A raid on properties associated with Jephte Fikula uncovered drugs, designer clothing, and three firearms – with Fikula’s DNA discovered on the magazine of one of the guns.
Police Constable Ryan Millington, of the County Lines team, said:
“This was an organised drug-dealing operation on a massive scale, and the investigation into the gang behind it was complex and painstaking.
“Some of the individuals involved were also being exploited themselves by those higher up the chain.
“There was evidence, however, that several members of this gang were enjoying lavish lifestyles funded by the misery of others.
“As the investigation into the main players in the group developed, it became clear there was an arrogance to their criminality.
“Certain members of the group were brazen about their drug dealing and clearly revelled in the status they felt their illegal financial gains gave them.
“The music videos they produced were clearly intended to glamourise the drugs trade and became part of the investigation which helped to crack their conspiracy.
“This gang was a typical County Lines business model, with drug dealers exploiting vulnerable young people to do their dirty work.
“Children were encouraged to travel to places some distance away, and which they did not know, to transport and sell drugs.
“It exposed them to multiple dangers which young people should never be subjected to.”
