Birmingham woman convicted of running county lines operation

A drug dealer from Birmingham, who flaunted her luxurious lifestyle on Snapchat, has become the first woman across the West Midlands to be convicted of running a County Lines drugs operation on her own.

Henna Ashraf showed off her wealth including taking pictures inside her flash Mercedes car and posting photos of bundles of cash on the social media app Snapchat.

Her money was made through selling Class A drugs in Torquay – over 180 miles from where she lives.

The 25-year-old, from Croftdown Road, Harborne, was operating what she called the ‘Mase Line’ from Birmingham all the way down to the Devon town.

But Ashraf’s luxury lifestyle was to come crashing down after she was spotted driving down the M5 on 9 December 2020.

She was driving from her Birmingham home in a silver Mercedes car to Torquay when officers from Avon and Somerset stopped her near to junction 24.

Ashraf panicked as police swooped and an object was seen being thrown from the driver’s side of her vehicle. The item wasn’t recovered but is believed to be a package containing class A drugs.

Ashraf eventually stopped the car and provided false details of her mother’s name at first.

Inside her car was a damaged Nokia mobile phone folded in half and then wedged between the seats and the centre console.

Despite snapping the handset, the IMEI was still visible and this was confirmed to be the relevant handset for the Nokia mobile phone being used for the ‘MASE’ drugs line.

Ashraf was arrested and taken into custody.

Investigations found the phone had been in use since at least 14 August 2020 until 9 December 2020.

Telecommunication enquiries led to the identification of burner phones often associated to this type of criminal activity.

Text messages were obtained which were sent from the phone with one saying ‘Best both deals cal now fat bits.’ Drug dealers commonly use this terminology to refer to heroin and crack cocaine.

This message was sent to 40 separate contacts on the 7 October 2020 between 10.07pm and 10.08pm.

Other messages referring to deals were also sent including ‘On now best of both cal now deals’ while other messages were sent revealing the unique Mase branding of the drugs line including ‘On with both cal now fat bits deals mase line.’

When officers searched her bedroom, they found a further phone also containing messages of a similar nature.

When they looked into her personal phone, they saw she had sent several snapchat messages boasting about her successful life as a drug dealer including pictures of bundles of cash she had made from her criminal gains.

Ashraf was convicted of being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin between 14 August 2020 and 9 December 2020 following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

She will be sentenced on 20 December and faces a prison sentence.

Detective Superintendent Syed Hussain, West Midlands Police lead for County Lines, said:

“County Lines gangs should know they are in our sights and our work goes on 24/7 throughout the year to stop them.

“Ashraf was unusual in being a lone woman heading a County Lines drugs operation and we are delighted to have worked with our colleagues at Avon and Somerset Police to put an end to this drugs line and secure a successful conviction at court.

“Communities are left destroyed by County Lines and we are determined to stop people like Ashraf from profiting from the misery of others.

“We work with a raft of partners and local authorities as well as charities and we try to raise awareness of the general public so that they can become more aware of the dangers associated with County Lines and exploitation.”