The police operation bore more than a passing similarity to cult television series The Wire.
Officers listened in on drug dealers as they discussed their business – using codenames and changing mobile phones to evade detection.
The criminals organised deliveries of drugs from one side of the country to the other, stashing tens of thousands of pounds with their minions.
And it ended with jail sentences totalling more than 65 years yesterday (December 7).
The Sussex connection was Asif Khan – known by the nicknames Little Man and Esco, a reference to legendary cocaine dealer Pablo Escobar.
As the net closed, he even visited his opposite number from Birmingham, Kenneth Henry, in prison.
Sussex Police’s serious and organised crime unit spent much of last year gathering evidence, alongside West Midlands Police.
They eventually proved heroin and cocaine had been collected in Liverpool, processed in Birmingham and delivered to Crawley for distribution.
Detective Inspector Steve Paice, who led the Sussex Police operation, said: “This was a very sophisticated and elaborate conspiracy.
"We followed up intelligence and other leads which led us from Crawley to Birmingham and the North West.
Lieutenants
“At the heart of it was Asif Khan, with his lieutenants Mohsin Raja and Nazir Ahmed, using a house in Burdock Close, Crawley, as the Sussex distribution centre.”
Chief Inspector Steve Curry, Crawley District commander, said: “Crawley and surrounding areas are safer places now that they have been brought to justice.”
Khan, 38, of Selsey Road, Broadfield, Crawley, was sentenced to 11 years in prison at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday.
While police were investigating him he was on release on licence from prison, after receiving a six-year sentence for armed robbery and possession of a loaded gun.
Khan’s lieutenant Mohsin Raja, 42, of Raven Lane, Crawley, received nine years for conspiracies to supply heroin nationally and cocaine, heroin and cannabis within Sussex.
Eleven of their underlings had already pleaded guilty as part of the same case.
Charges
Charges of conspiracy to supply drugs were brought against a total of 12 defendants.
Nazir Ahmed, 38, of Cotton Walk, Crawley, received five years’ imprisonment.
Jonathan Dell, 30, of Blackcap Close, Crawley, received three years and ten months.
Imran Rafiq, 42, of Langley Drive, Crawley, was jailed for five years.
Shouel Karim, 24, of Baker Close, Crawley, received four years and four months.
Daniel Myers, 33, of Station Road, Edenbridge, Kent, received three years and ten months, while Fitzgerald Francis, 46, of Kilby Avenue, Birmingham, received three-and-a-half years.
Three others were spared jail.
James Gater, 29, of Downland Drive, Crawley, got a 12-month suspended sentence for conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine and cannabis; Ngozi Abosi, 41, of Lister Close, Tipton, got an eight-month suspended sentence for money-laundering.
Cheryl Treasure, 38 of West Mill Croft, Birmingham, got a 12-month suspended jail term for possession of criminal property.
The sentencing of Latoyah Lewis, 25, of Abbey Close, Tatany, West Bromwich, for conspiracy to supply heroin, was adjourned until January because she is expecting a child.
Read more on this story, with details of the sting operation, inside today's Argus.
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