'WEED, COKE, KET' business card helped trap cocky drug gang

A BUSINESS card that said 'WEED, COKE, KET' and 'brazen' videos of wads of cash being flashed uncovered a web of drug-dealing in Manchester.

- ASHLIE BLAKEY

Five men have been jailed after the 'web of organised criminal activity' was unravelled. Police said they were all involved in drug lines across the city between 2021 and 2023.

The investigation into the drugdealing first began in April 2022, Greater Manchester Police said. The business card advertising the drugs was handed to an off-duty police officer by a man driving a grey Audi.

Officers identified the car as belonging to Ikram Malique and carried out a raid on his home.

Police found more than £3,000 in cash at his address, as well as cannabis, MDMA, cocaine, ketamine and more business cards inside his car.

A search of Malique's phone uncovered 'numerous messages relating to the supply of drugs, police said, which dated back to April 2021.

A WhatsApp chat named 'The Nittys Gaff' unmasked the four other suspects Ismail Jeylani, Peter Braxton Abdul, Ratil Habibullah and Mamadou Jallow.

In the chat, the suspects discussed renting properties in and around Manchester city centre.

Police suspected these were being used as 'stash' addresses to keep drugs and paraphernalia.