Mother-of-one ran child heroin drug racket

A mother-of-one nicknamed "Little Miss Attitude" has been jailed for five years for masterminding a county lines drugs racket that forced children to traffic cocaine and heroin.

Naliah Noreen, 23, was detained after a teenager was used as a runner for her gang that had up to 1,200 customers.

Noreena and her relatives would drive around the boy around local housing estates near Rochdale to deliver drugs. She would also travel to Lancashire and Staffordshire to collect dirty money on behalf of her boyfriend.

She and her two brothers ran five drug hotlines that fielded 54,000 called over a period of four months.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Noreen, who was arrested in August 2018, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin; plus a separate charge of money laundering.

Her brothers Asad Ali, 19 and Ratib Ali, 20, and their housemate Janaid Rehman, 18 were jailed at earlier hearings.

Her boyfriend Mohammed Abu Khan, 28, is currently serving seven-and-a-half.

Describing how the gang operated, prosecutor Daniel Calder said: “A user would call or message one of the drugs lines to place an order, the person with the handset for that drug line would then call one of the dealers to pass on the order and they would then in turn contact Nailah Noreen to arrange for the drugs to be delivered to the user.

“Police also became aware that a 15 year old boy was being used to deliver Class A drugs.

“It is plain, the group, including this defendant, were responsible for controlling the activities of the boy who delivered both cocaine and heroin to users who had contacted the drug lines being operated by Ms Noreen and her family.”

Noreen had a previous conviction for drug driving.

During their investigation, police seized 13 kilos of Class A drugs and more than £100,000 in cash from the drugs gang. Their ringleader Mohammed Fazal, 33, is serving 15 years jail after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine.