Liverpool county lines drug dealers who operated in Cheshire jailed

Four members of the ‘Mitch’ gang were sentenced on Monday, December 14, at Chester Crown Court for their part in a drugs conspiracy with a potential value of between £71,000 to £142,000.

One member was found and arrested by police in Wilmslow on June 21, and all four went on to plead guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Drugs recovered in the taxi in Wilmslow were £2,490 worth of heroin and crack cocaine

Between July 2019 and July 2020, Jamal Conteh and Zakaira Ahmed worked as a team along with others, using two ‘graft’ mobile phones to advertise and facilitate the supply of Class A drugs in Macclesfield.

The first graft phone was activated on July 16, 2019, when Conteh travelled to Macclesfield to establish and develop the line, sending various messages advertising drugs to vulnerable users in the town.

In September 2019 Conteh recruited three youths from Northamptonshire to assist with the drug dealing operation.

During separate interventions, officers from the Macclesfield County Lines BIT team recovered 91 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine, multiple phones and £860 in cash.

Ahmed took turns in managing the graft phone in Liverpool while Conteh spent his time in Macclesfield dabbling in street dealing.

When Conteh wanted to ‘sit off’ he would order Oluwafemi Odumuyiwa and Cheryl Hamand to deal on his behalf.

£19,470 cash recovered from Ahmed's bedroom in Macclesfield in July

In a bid avoid detection, Odumuyiwa began hiring vehicles and chauffeured Conteh around Macclesfield to conduct drug deals and both would travel from Liverpool to Cheshire couriering commodity on behalf of the ‘Mitch’ county lines team.

Hamand would allow the gang to operate from her property in the town.

Police raided this address in October 2019, discovering 91 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine along with three knives believed to be for protection and more than £330 in cash.

Officers stopped a taxi in Wilmslow with Conteh inside, he was arrested and passed two packages containing 249 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine worth an estimated £2,490 which he had concealed inside him.

While in custody Ahmed repeatedly attempted to get in contact with Conteh.

On July 9, 2020, Cheshire Police arrested Ahmed at his Liverpool home where officers discovered £19,470 in cash in his wardrobe along with a Norwegian passport and Dior training shoes worth around £850.

In sentencing the four defendants, Justice Michael Leeming said: "Conteh and Ahmed worked as a team and recruited and exploited others to assist.

"This was undertaken with complete disregard for the impact on society and the way in which drugs wreck people lives and lead to increased crime as users commit crimes to fund their addiction – the misery that creates has been caused or at the very least contributed to by each of one of you.

“Youths were used to reduce the risk to you Conteh and they were exploited by you because of their age."

Knives, heroin, crack, and cash seized in Macclesfield

Conteh, 22, of Newport Road, Northampton, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, subject to a serious crime prevention order.

Ahmed, 24, of Millennium Road, Toxteth, Liverpool, was sentenced to seven years and six months. 

Odumuyiwa, 30, of Union Street, Liverpool, was sentenced to 44 months.

Hamand, 43, of Dawson Road, Macclesfield, was sentenced to 31 months.

Two more defendants, Ammin Hassan and Edson Pereira, will be sentenced in the new year.

Det Insp Adam Alexander said: “This gang brought misery to the people of Macclesfield while relying on vulnerable youths to help deal drugs for them on their behalf.

“Illegal drugs have a devastating impact on local communities so by cutting off the supply and removing dealers from our streets, we are working to break the cycle of serious and organised crime.

“I hope that this sentence acts as a deterrent to anyone who feels that they can travel into Cheshire for their own selfish criminal gain.”