By Eric King-
Close to a dozen drug dealers were jailed after using an East London train station to sell heroin, cocaine and cannabis.
The gang of 11 men used Ilford Station as ”a drug market”, selling Class A and B substances. The problem with many drug dealers is the lack of wisdom in seeing the stupidity of some of their arrangements. Dealing drugs outside a train station are just plain stupid! Dealing drugs, in general, is dangerous, but when a gang of youths choose to deal at a train station, and none of them is able to foresee the strong possibility of getting caught it makes one wonder why they were not thinking.
Reports of intimidation and anti-social behaviour by the men further highlights the lack of intelligence or lack of applied intelligence in youths dealing drugs and attracting attention to themselves through anti-social behaviour. Behaviour that defeats the criminal objective of their dealing, which was to make money through the illegal activity of selling drugs, without being caught. Smart drug dealers would have been better composed and behaved, leaving their only offence being the illegal act of dealing drugs and the moral fault in continuously fuelling the addiction of drug addicts instead of earning an honest wage.
The men were put under surveillance by British Transport (BTP) and Metropolitan Police officers in February 2016. After a 6 months operation, the dealers were trapped and arrested by cops. The men were 20-year-old Klevis Local, of no fixed abode, 18-year-old Abdul Boota,from Leytonstone, 20-year-old Sherali Nasiri from Ilford, 25-year-old Mohammed Haider, of no fixed abode, 29-year-old Sandip Singh, of no fixed abode, 27-year-old Awalkhan Naserkhel,from Ilford, and 21-year-old Haroon Nikki, also of Park Avenue.
Others convicted include Rakeem Rajput-Siddique, 23 from Ilford, Masood Ahmadi, 26, fromMillwall, Mohammed Darwish, 24, of no fixed abode, and Ardit Isha, 20, of no fixed abode were also convicted.
Aleem Khan, 27, of Kensington Gardens, Ilford was acquitted half way through the three-week trial.
BTP inspector John Loveless said the gang’s drug operations at the station resulted in regular anti-social behaviour for passengers and staff.
He said commuters and station staff had been assaulted and female passengers often made to feel uncomfortable by the gang’s catcalls.
As a result “Operation Parish” was launched in collaboration with Redbridge Council with the aim of improving the quality of life for passengers and staff at Ilford.
DCI Sam Blackburn said: “BTP officers had received intelligence that men had been causing a lot of problems around Ilford railway station.