'Turk' line smashed as police unmask gang who helped flood Birmingham with drugs

A gang who flooded the West Midlands with crack cocaine and heroin used a code name to try and fool police. Gang members who ran the 'Turk' line, which flooded Birmingham, Coventry and areas up north including Manchester with class A drugs, used a fake name to try and throw police off the scent.

The Turk Line racket operated across Coventry between December 2022 and August 2023 and distributed to locations across the country. The gang would use cars to deal drugs from, registering them under the false alias of ‘Florentin Iosif’ at various addresses to avoid journeys used to drop off the drugs ever being linked back to them.

West Midlands Police confirmed five men have been jailed for more than 40 years after they smashed the line. Jyad Mohammedi, Walid Houssain, Zewar Younes, Sarwat Ahmed and Shahram Karimi were jailed for a combined total of more than 42 years for their involvement in supplying crack cocaine and heroin.

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In the months leading up to their arrest, Houssain and Mohammedi were stopped in one of the cars multiple times. On these occasions, Mohammedi would give his details as being ‘Florentin Iosif’.

However, records also placed the Turk Line phone at the same location as the stopped car along with personal phones belonging to the pair. Between December 2022 and April 2023, the Turk Line was used to send out more than 8,000 bulk messages to multiple people advertising drugs for sale.

Drugs were then often transported in cars registered to ‘Florentin Iosif’ but driven by different members of the group around Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester and other parts of the country. What came next helped dismantle the line as a result of a search carried out.

Officers from West Midlands Police's County Lines Taskforce carried out a warrant at an address in Talland Avenue, Coventry on 23 August 2023 where Mohammedi, Younes and Houssain were arrested. At the address a mobile phone believed to be the main handset for Turk Line was recovered. Younes was searched and found to have the keys to a safe containing large amount of cash.

When Mohammedi and Houssain were searched, large amounts of cash were also found. Ahmed and Karimi were arrested in the days after the warrant. During interview, most of the group gave ‘no comment’ answers to the majority of questions.

Ahmed even claimed to not even know what Class A drugs were. Following an analysis of the group’s individual mobile phones as well as the phone used to service drug users and CCTV at key times placing different members of the group at key locations, detectives were able to link them all to the Turk Line.

Text messages between Mohammedi and Houssain also showed the pair discussing the wholesale of a kilogram of cocaine and investigations further revealed that much of the money was being laundered through businesses linked to Younes. Police estimated the line to be worth over £500,000.

Four of the group were sentenced last Thursday, November 14 at Warwick Crown Court. The fifth man was sentenced a previous hearing.

Detective Constable David Cockbill, from West Midlands Police's County Lines Taskforce, said following sentencing: "The taskforce have worked hard to put this group behind bars where they can’t cause further misery to our communities.

“We won’t stop in our fight against organised crime and will continue to remove drugs off our streets and bring those involved to justice, while also protecting and safeguarding the vulnerable people caught up in these lines.

“We can’t do this without information from the public and I would encourage you to get in touch if you have any information. Something small, could be something big to our investigation.”

The five were sentenced as follows:

Jyad Mohammedi, aged 23 of Mansel Street, Coventry - jailed for 11 years and 7 months for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

Zewar Younes, aged 31 of no fixed abode - jailed for nine and a half years for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

Sarwat Ahmed, aged 22 of Eastwood, Manchester - jailed for nine and a half years for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

Walid Houssain, aged 23 of no fixed abode - jailed for nine years and 11 months for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

Shahram Karimi, aged 23 of The Old Yard, Coventry – jailed for three years for possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin at Warwick Crown Court on 10 June 2024.