Rap video lured children into county lines network

Twelve drug dealers have been jailed for running an "industrial" supply network that flooded heroin and crack cocaine into towns across the East Midlands and Aberdeen.

The Nottingham-based ringleaders sprayed champagne from a white Rolls-Royce, in one of several "drill" music videos that boasted about their weapons and wealth.

Nottingham Crown Court heard how they protected their turf with knives, a loaded pistol, and bombarded drug s with marketing texts.

They also set up local distribution hubs at addicts' homes and recruited children to move and sell their drugs, to reduce the risk of getting caught.

The video in a hired Rolls-Royce shows more than 20 young men posing at familiar locations around St Ann's in Nottingham, their faces covered with black masks.

It features 22-year-old Godpraise Bouwen rapping about "junkies asking for testers", and defending his turf with weapons. Bouwen had previous convictions for robbery and knife offences.

PC Ryan Millington, who led the investigation for Nottinghamshire Police, says the lyrics and images were designed to recruit young drug dealers.

"Stacks of cash. Rolex watches. It makes it very easy for young people to become indoctrinated in that lifestyle," he said.

PC Millington says other lyrics, found in their phone notes, were evidence that helped prove their involvement.

"I'd be able to see the lyrics were written within hours after a police stop, where they were talking about that exact thing, and making reference to hiding drugs from us," he added.

Officers treated teenagers, who were sent to sell their drugs in surrounding towns, as victims of exploitation. PC Millington says they included a 15 year old who was driven to Mansfield.

"He would stay at a drug 's house to deal from," he said.

"That boy would be armed with a knife. They would do this because the young people have no criminal connection back to them."

Their network was headed by Jephte Fikula, who had the loaded pistol, and Sipho Ncube, the man spraying Dom Perignon champagne from a Rolls-Royce in their music video.

The investigation began after officers caught Ncube running away from a car crash in September 2022.

They found vital evidence on a mobile phone that he tried to throw away - it was the group's Coalville drugs line.

At Ncube’s home, they seized a Rolex watch worth between £11,750 and £14,550, alongside hand-written notes about how dealing drugs could earn him up to £20,000 a week.

County lines are a lucrative drug-dealing model that criminal networks use to expand their customer base across different areas within the UK.

The National Police Chiefs Council says gangs often coerce or intimidate children and vulnerable adults into moving and storing their drugs and money.

The NSPCC adds county lines gangs aim to evade the police by using sophisticated "grooming" techniques that are "a form of child abuse".

The National Crime Agency says the county line is the mobile phone line used to take orders, and it causes "increased levels of violence and weapons-related crimes".

The investigation in Nottingham focussed on 13 separate county lines that also supplied heroin and crack to Long Eaton, Ilkeston, Ripley, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Hucknall, Grantham and Spalding.

Officers identified over 33,000 "bulk marketing" messages that d drugs to more than 1,400 customer numbers, and over 113,000 incoming calls in response.

Jonathan Cox, prosecuting, described it as an "industrial scale" operation that tried to dominate the class-A drugs market and also sought to target Leicester.

Mr Cox said the group tempted vulnerable people who were "gripped by addiction" and they were "shameless in their dealing".

PC Millington said two drug s in Coalville and Mansfield allowed the group to use their homes to store and deal drugs.

He said Kevin Wilde and Jeanette Talbot were given free heroin and cocaine as payment, and the impact on those communities was huge.

"People living in the area will see the effects, people who are homeless or in a poor state of health because of drug use, teenagers who will be sent to these places often armed with a weapon," he said.

Some residents in Coalville told the BBC that hard drugs were widespread in the town and blamed that trade for shoplifting.

His Hon Judge Mark Watson said Talbot was a "hapless addict" whose home was cuckooed and who was the victim of her circumstances.

He deferred her sentencing for six months to allow her to demonstrate further progress in tackling her drug habit.

Wilde failed to appear for his sentencing, and the court heard that attempts have been made to arrest him.

The other twelve defendants have received sentences of between six and 21 years.

The judge said they were involved in "street dealing of vast proportions", selling highly addictive and dangerous drugs that ruined lives.

• Jephte Fikula, 29, of no fixed abode (formerly Nottingham). Sentenced to 21 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs, possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life, possess of ammunition without a certificate, possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
• Ramone Campbell, 28, of Rose Close, Nottingham. Sentenced to 16 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs, possession of a prohibited firearm and ammunition, breach of a restraining order.
• Sipho Ncube, 29, of Harvington Road, Birmingham (formerly Ebury Road, Nottingham). Sentenced to 15 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
• Godpraise Bouwen, 22, of Astor Road, Nottingham. Sentenced to 15 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

• Kamel Mantock, 28, of Wasnidge Walk, Nottingham. Sentenced to six years and four months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
• Jaysaniel Grant, 26, of Blue Bell Hill Road, Nottingham. Sentenced to nine years and six months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
• Tarrell Comrie-Patterson, 28, of Blue Bell Hill Road, Nottingham. Sentenced to nine years and 11 months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
• Amang Kanyi, 25, of Botany Avenue, Nottingham. Sentenced to seven years and 9 months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
• Bayleigh Reid, 25, of Riber Crescent, Nottingham. Sentenced to six years and nine months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
• Aiden Farah, 21, of Peveril Street, Nottingham. Sentenced to six years and 11 months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
• Laquarne Fogo, 20, of no fixed abode (formerly Nottingham). Sentenced to eight years youth detention for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possession of a bladed article.
• Gaiel Landau, 24, of Collmead Court, Northampton (formerly Alfreton Road, Nottingham). Sentenced to eight years and three months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

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