York’s chief judge lamented the scourge of Class A drug dealing as he jailed three men for a combined eight years for flooding the streets of York with heroin and crack cocaine.
His Honour Sean Morris said that dealing in hard drugs was now “the mother of all crime” which fed other types of offending such as theft, robbery and fraud, including against the elderly, which was “soaking up police resources”.
Haider Arshed, 28, the “main player” in the ‘county lines’ drug racket, was jailed for four years for co-ordinating the supply of cocaine and heroin between Bradford, Leeds and York city centre.
Arshed’s “runners” Oliur Rahman, 26, and Shu-Aiv Mohammed Titre, 22, also from Bradford, were each jailed for two years and four months.
York woman Rebecca Thomas, 38, was given a 16-month suspended jail sentence because she was a “vulnerable” drug addict who had been exploited by others.
Brooke Morrison, prosecuting at York Crown Court, said the sophisticated drug plot involved various phone lines operated between Leeds, Bradford and York.
The first and most prominent was the ‘Max Line’ operated by Arshed who was initially arrested in January last year.
The Max Line had operated in York city centre for over 12 months on various phone numbers centre before Arshed’s final arrest in September 2024.
Arshed was initially arrested and released under investigation on 10 January, 2024, but by May of that year, police became aware that the Max Line was still operating between West Yorkshire and York under a different number.
Ms Morrison said that Arshed had been sending out “broadcast” messages to a “large number” of drug users and potential customers.
She said there had been more than 32,000 incoming and outgoing text messages and phone calls throughout the drug plot which began in June 2023.
Titre, Rahman and Rebecca Thomas were all linked to that phone line and were acting as “runners” for Arshed.
Titre was arrested in Burnholme Grove, York, in July 2023 after police saw him acting “suspiciously” in the area. He ran off but was detained following a short foot chase.
Officers searched an Airbnb property in Burnholme Grove which Titre had rented and found 65 wraps of crack cocaine worth £1,300 and 63 wraps of heroin worth £1,260, along with £210 cash and a large kitchen knife found under a mattress.
On 10 January the following year, Rebecca Thomas was stopped by police in Shipton, near Beningbrough, where she was found with £40 of heroin which she said she was about to “supply to two males in the vicinity”.
Police searched a property in York where she was staying and found drug bags and empty foil containers. Rahman was in the property at the time and was found with over £156 cash and “tick lists”.
Ms Morrison said that evidence on phones seized from the property showed that Thomas, a “vulnerable drug user”, was paid a wage by Rahman and she was one of the “top contacts” on the Max Line.
In September last year, Arshed, the ringleader, was arrested again, despite having been released under investigation following his initial arrest in January 2024.
He was also on bail and under investigation for possessing cannabis with intent to supply in 2022, with one of the bail conditions stipulating that he stayed out of North Yorkshire.
Despite his bail conditions, Arshed had sent out huge numbers of “bulk” messages to drug users in York between April and August.
By July, the text traffic had reached 409 potential customers and there was “hourly activity” on the “county line”.
“He was involved in a busy and sophisticated drug-dealing operation,” added Ms Morrison.
Arshed, Titre, Rahman and Thomas were each charged with being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine. They ultimately admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today (9 December).
Ms Morrison said that Thomas, of Burton Stone Lane, Clifton, had a previous conviction for theft and two police cautions for possessing cannabis.
Her barrister Nathan Davis said that, unlike her co-defendants who came from good families, the York woman had endured a “horrendous” life and had been involved in the drugs racket for only a month “under direction” from “the leaders” of the County Line operation, at a time when she had a £100-a-day crack habit.
Richard Canning, for Arshed, said his client, from Bradford but of no fixed abode, was “not the top of the tree” in the wider drug plot and was ostensibly dealing to pay back loan sharks.
Zareen Alam-Cheetham, for Titre, said that her client, of Mandeville Crescent, Bradford, had been studying at university in Leeds since his arrest two years ago but would lose his place if he were jailed.
Stephen Littlewood, for Rahman, said his client, of Sylhet Close, Bradford, was only involved in the drug plot between November 2023 and January 2024 when he had a drug problem and owed debts. He was now hoping to become a physiotherapist.
Judge Mr Morris, the Recorder of York, told the drug plotters: “All four of you were involved…in what is known as a County Lines drug-dealing operation. Drug-dealing is the mother of all crime.”
He said that Arshed was “running the show” and that the other defendants were “eager runners for you”.
Thomas was the only plotter who was spared prison. She received a 16-month jail sentence, but this was suspended for two years.
The suspended sentence was contingent upon her completing 15 rehabilitation-activity days and an eight-month drug-rehabilitation programme.
