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Court seizes spoils of drug dealer gang chief
Justin Davenport and Ken Hyder29 May 2008
A 'General' in a London street gang has been stripped of his personal possessions by a court - including a collection of nearly 60 baseball caps and trainers.
Musa Mohammed, 20, was also ordered to hand over a plasma TV and £1,500 bike. His two pitbull terriers were seized and destroyed.
The move is part of a campaign against gang members using laws aimed at confiscating the proceeds of organised crime networks.
Mohammed, a key member of Wandsworth-based gang SUK - Stick Up Kids - was ordered to hand over his possessions after pleading guilty to supplying class-A drugs. Police successfully argued that the drug dealer, who was unemployed and not claiming benefits, had paid for items with profits from drug dealing.
The list of items he was forced to hand over included: 29 pairs of £110 trainers, 29 baseball caps, a laptop computer, a 42in plasma TV, an Xbox, a PlayStation, designer clothes and two bicycles.
Pc Laura Milne, who led the investigation into Mohammed, said police found £21,000 worth of drugs and £7,000 in cash after searching his flat. "The one thing he was really upset about was the loss of his trainers. He told us we could keep the drugs and the money but he wanted his trainers and his property back," she said.
Mohammed, from Southfields, was arrested in January as he drove to Surrey to deliver drugs. He had wraps of heroin and crack cocaine hidden down his trousers. Police described him as a "general" in SUK, which has about 100 members and has been associated with tit-for-tat shootings with rival groups.
Wandsworth detectives began targeting the gang after the murder of 16-year-old Eugene Attram in Mitcham two years ago. So far around 50 members have been arrested and others "disrupted".
Detective Superintendent Guy Ferguson said: "They think they can make money quickly - up to £1,000 a day dealing drugs. But systematically, using confiscation powers, we're taking away their cash and the things they spend it on."
Mohammed, a Somali illegal immigrant, was today beginning a four-year sentence after appearing at Kingston crown court. He tried to challenge the application to seize his property but failed.
