29 year old Daniaal Ghafoor was working for a County Lines network and used a mobile phone to send multiple messages advertising the sale of crack cocaine and heroin to people who were addicted to them.
Greater Manchester Police’s dedicated County Lines Team began a covert investigation – codenamed Operation Jig – to identify who was supplying the drugs in and around the Rochdale area.
When police searched a property on Snowdon Street, Ghafoor was inside and had in his possession 16 wraps of heroin and 32 wraps of crack cocaine.
Police later searched a property on Market Street where the large amount of drugs were located.
Ghafoor pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and was jailed yesterday at Minshull Street Crown Court for four years
Detective Chief Inspector Claire McGuire said: “The investigation centred on gathering intelligence around the identity of the person using the graft phone. From that mobile phone we evidenced Ghafoor as the person advertising the sale of class A drugs to vulnerable users, which was his role for this County Lines network.
“We are determined to identify and seek out people like Ghafoor who make a profit from the supply of drugs that often bring with it the exploitation of vulnerable people and young children.
Whilst we will continue to target these criminals, we cannot always achieve results like today without the support of the public. I therefore encourage anyone who believes drug activity could be happening in their community to report it either to police via 101 or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
