'County lines' drug dealer who used children as 'workhorses' jailed
Zakaria Mohammed admitted running a drugs supply chain and trafficking two boys and a girl to deal on his behalf in Lincoln.
Thursday 4 October 2018 16:27, UK
A drug dealer has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for trafficking children across counties in the first conviction of its kind in the UK.
Zakaria Mohammed, from Aston in Birmingham, admitted running a drugs supply chain and trafficking two boys and a girl to deal on his behalf in the drug dens of Lincoln.
Police said the children were used as "expendable workhorses" and they were found in a "filthy" one-bed flat with two class A drug users, surrounded by used syringes.
Detective Inspector Tom Hadley from West Midlands Police said: "Children are often groomed to deal drugs with false promises of money and the allure of leading an exciting lifestyle.
"In reality, we found three children inside a one-bed flat alongside two class A drug users surrounded by used syringes.
"The place was filthy, cold and there was no food in the kitchen. The children looked drawn, tired and hungry.
"They were not wearing new trainers or designer clothes…they didn't have new phones or gadgets.
"They were not making money - they were having their childhood stolen from them by Mohammed who considered them expendable 'workhorses'."
Mohammed, 21, was investigated in January after two 15-year-old boys went missing from their homes in Birmingham and were found in a flat in Lincoln.
West Midlands Police said it was the first time a force had secured child trafficking convictions, in addition to drugs offences, in a "county lines" investigation, using the Modern Slavery Act.
County lines refers to organised gangs extending their drug dealing network from big cities to other areas.
During searches of properties in Lincoln police found a large blood stained knife, cash, 25 wraps of heroine and crack cocaine, and other weapons.
"Mohammed has been convicted of trafficking three vulnerable children but we suspect there were many more," Mr Hadley added.
"On this occasion we treated them as victims, not drug dealers, because they were being groomed and exploited."
The children and their families are now receiving expert help via the human trafficking national referral mechanism.