Officers bust drug deal while on their lunch break and bring down County Line supplier

Two police officers in Birmingham bust a drug deal and brought down a county line supplier while on their lunch break.

They were near a supermarket in Constitutional Hill on February 5, when they spotted two known drug users approach a parked car.

The driver sped off but two men were arrested as officers found they had received text messages advertising crack cocaine and heroin for sale.

Enquires by detective managed to identify Mohammed Nabeel as the sender.

A search warrant was carried out at his flat in Mint Drive in Hockley, on March 9.

They found the drugs hotline plus £2,000 in drugs, £10,000 cash and a kilo of cutting agent in Nabeel’s car.

Analysis of his phone showed between November 29 2020 and March 9 2021, he’d sent more than 5,000 bulk text messages advertising drugs for sale and received almost 6,000 messages, many drugs orders.

They also found a video on his phone showing the 25-year-old laughing and joking as he prepared drug wraps in his kitchen.

Appearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday, Nabeel was jailed for four years and eight months.

It is after he admitted possessing drugs with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.  

West Midlands Police have said: "It just goes to show that police officers are never off duty!"

ROCU Detective Constable Thomas Reece from WMP said: "It was a chance encounter by two officers on their lunch break that led to us uncovering a significant drugs supply line.

"In just over three months we estimated Nabeel supplied around 1kg of Class A drugs to his customer base; we found around 120 contacts on his drugs phone.

"The identified drug users were sent messages in order to divert them away from drug misuse."