Leicester Mercury
By Shannen Headley Reporter Martin Naylor Courts and legal affairs correspondent
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Hussein Abdulkadir was found to have been running a 'Max line' selling drugs
A judge has confiscated over £10,000 in cash from a drug dealer using missing children to sell Class A drugs for him. Hussain Abdulkadir appeared at Derby Crown Court earlier this week for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing following his sentencing hearing back in January this year.
The 23-year-old directed the two boys, aged 14 and 15, to deliver drugs to addicts in the Normanton area of Derby, from his home in London. The two teens, who were missing from their homes in Leicester and London, were arrested after police discovered them with 236 wraps of cocaine or heroin, cash, a machete and a knuckle duster, reports DerbyshireLive.
Abdulkadir's flat in Ealing, London, was raided following the arrest of the young boys and he was later sentenced to six years and seven months in jail. He pleaded guilty to the supply of heroin and crack cocaine and had recently completed a 45-month jail sentence for running the same county lines operation in Surrey in 2020.
The Proceeds of Crime Act, or POCA, allows police to apply for cash to be seized from criminals who have made their money from ill-gotten gains. The money that is seized is split 50-50 between the force and the Government and is often used to fund community projects.
Importantly, if a convicted criminal comes into money later in life that he or she does not currently have, police can still apply to have that seized. Judge Martin Hurst said: “I find that the benefit figure was £9,625.61 and the available assets are £2,225.53 which is already in the hands of the police.”
At his sentencing hearing, the prosecutor said analysis of a phone showed the two teens were being told in texts by the dealer to "get some sleep" as they would soon be supplied with fresh drugs to sell. Anthony Cheung said: "A warrant was issued at the defendant's flat in Lady Margaret Road, Southall, London, where a mobile was seized and on it was the evidence he was running what was called 'The Max Line' selling drugs through the missing and vulnerable boys, from London and Leicester, in Derby.
"There were messages sent to the boys from the Max Line which read 'be ready for 7.30am' and mass marketing messages to customers saying when drugs would be available to buy."At his sentencing hearing, Recorder Richard McConaghy said: "When these children, and they were just children, were arrested they had on them 236 wraps of class A drugs which they were selling at your behest. Also in their possession was a significant amount of cash and an even more concerning twist is that one of them was in possession of a machete and a knuckle duster.
"These were tools of the trade shockingly being used by a 14-year-old boy under your instruction. You operated this line to sell drugs brought in from London to Derby and you were exploiting two vulnerable and damaged young boys who had been missing from their homes.