Brothers who ran Bucks drug empire jailed for 30 years

Ansar and Ajmal Akram, both from Hemel Hempstead, ran an organised crime group (OCG) that operated in Buckinghamshire and was involved in exchanges of huge amounts of the class A drug.

The brothers, who sold drugs across the country including in Bucks, Yorkshire, Luton, Northampton and more, were followed by police for six months in 2019, and on Monday they were finally jailed at St Albans Crown Court.

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Ringleader Ansar Akram, aged 34, received 15 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and possession of criminal property. Second-in-command Ajmal Akram, 30, was jailed for 14 years after he was found guilty of the same charges.

Police seized a Tesco bag full of cash amongst other evidence

The investigation into the pair was led by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit’s (ERSOU) Regional Organised Crime Unit, which found that the pair sold drugs to other localised organised crime groups around the UK.

The investigation found that older brother Ansar hid in the shadows, using his younger brother and deputy to run a network of drug-running couriers.

These bag-men travelled all over the country, and used encrypted communications devices to hide their activities from the police.

A block of cocaine seized from the OCG During their investigation into the brothers, officers seized 6.5kg of cocaine, with an estimated street value of nearly £200,000, as well as more than £150,000 in cash. Police believe this is just a “snapshot” of the group’s illegal activities.

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Ansar and Ajmal were arrested in October 2019 after police conducted in-depth surveillance on them.

Ryan Brockley was also implicated in the conspiracy

A third man, Ryan Brockley, aged 34, from Leicester, was also sentenced on Monday, receiving five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Three other men have also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to supply class A drugs. These are Jameel Khan, 27, from Nottingham, Ali Zarei, 27, from Northampton and Sarfaz Asif, 40, from Luton. The trio will be sentenced in the future.

Detective Inspector Ian Mawdesley, from ERSOU's Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “It's apparent that Ansar and Ajmal Akram were instrumental in the distribution of a significant amount of cocaine across a huge geographical area, and to know they will be in jail and unable to bring further misery to our communities for an extended period is fantastic.

Ansar, who headed up the group, thought nothing about directing the operation from the security of his home in an attempt to keep his hands clean, whilst putting others in the group at risk. This included his younger brother, Ajmal, who met with couriers to collect the money.

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“By removing those individuals in charge of criminal gangs such as this from society, not only are we keeping them away from causing further harm but we're also stopping the flow of dangerous illegal substances across the country.

“Through monitoring their activity, we were also able to piece together the involvement of a number of other OCGs, which will feed into other investigations already taking place by police colleagues across the country.

“This outcome is the result of a painstaking operation from a large number of investigators, many of whom have spent hundreds of hours tracking the group, establishing their involvement, and compiling significant amounts of evidence. I can only thank them for their exceptional work.”

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