BY JAMES SIMONS
A young man has been jailed for slashing a mans face for refusing to supply him crack cocaine and heroine. AShahadat Hussain, 21, of Canning Town was found guilty of grievous bodily harm and possession with intention to supply crack cocaine and heroin.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that in March last year, he approached a group of 18-year-olds on the top deck of 25 bus around 1.40am offering them drugs.
The thug heard discussing the soft drink Coke, which Hussain misunderstood to mean cocaine.
When his offer to sell them drugs was declined , he grabbed one of the men by the neck and attacked him by repeatedly punching and slashing him in the face.
The group subsequently got off the bus and escaped along the Romford Road before one of the victims was taken to Whipps Cross hospital where received 12 stitches on the nose.
This story is a grim reminder of how far some drug dealers will go to earn a living from their dodgy dealings. It goes without saying that not all drug dealers would behave so stupidly by inadvertently attracting police to their illegal practices by being unduly violent. It can also be assumed that some sort of altercation must have transpired between the time he offered them drugs and his senseless attack. The group of boys may have been rudely defiant to the drug dealer, but dealers who spark a fight unnecessarily are worse than stupid.
This guy was obviously too dangerous to remain on the streets.
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Hindmarsh, Roads and Transport Policing Command, said:
“This was a vicious, unprovoked attack on a man who refused to buy drugs from Hussain, leaving the victim with nasty injuries as a result.
“This sentence sends a strong message that crime on London’s transport network will not be tolerated.”
Officers from the Roads and Transport Policing Command, in partnership with Transport for London, then launched an investigation that led to Hussain being identified and arrested on 1 April on suspicion of GBH.
He was found in possession of a large amount of crack cocaine and heroin and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
Steve Burton, TfL’s Director of Enforcement and On-Street Operations, said:
“We work closely with our policing partners to ensure that all crime on our network is fully investigated and bring perpetrators to justice.
“Our thorough investigation led to the identification of this callous attacker and seeing him sentenced today sends a strong message that crime will not be tolerated on public transport.
“Our customers have the right to travel in confidence and we will continue to work hard to drive down levels of crime, which have fallen for each of the last nine years.”
Hussain was given 17 years imprisonment for GBH with intent, 46 months for possession with intention to supply crack cocaine, 46 months for possession with intent to supply heroin and seven days for possession of cannabis (the latter three to run concurrently)
