Violent, gun-toting Nottinghamshire drugs gang who boasted of their wealth in music videos brought down in police operation

The gang, which sold vast quantities of cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin on the streets of Mansfield, Kirkby, Sutton and other areas of Nottinghamshire, came to the attention of police after a series of shooting incidents in late 2018 and early 2019.

Between July 2018 and June 2019 the gang made ​extremely large sums of cash which they flaunted with the purchase of expensive jewellery, designer clothes, holidays and the production of music videos, in which they boasted about their drug-funded wealth.

In one of their music video’s, published on YouTube under Chand’s stage name Brutz, members of the gang were filmed in and around a block of flats at in Bestwood that they used as a safe house for storing drugs and guns.

Detectives were further helped by high-definition aerial drone footage of the location.

After falling under police suspicion the gang became the subject of an extensive covert police operation, during which a listening device planted in a car caught the gang openly discussing the sale of drugs and the shooting of rivals.

After a trial lasting more than 15 weeks the music finally stopped at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, August 20, and Friday, August 21, when Chand and six other men were convicted of multiple drugs and weapons offences.

Members of the gang, including Kiefer Smith, 28, formerly of Dallman Close, Hucknall, were convicted by a jury of two charges, conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to possess ammunition without a certificate.

Sarah Aplin, 27, of Wyton Close, Bestwood, had previously admitted to a charge of allowing a premises to used for the supply of controlled drug.

All will be sentenced on Monday, October 25.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Bull, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This was a very dangerous gang whose members were making huge sums of money from a wide-spread and sophisticated drug dealing network. Ultimately, however, they were undone by their own arrogance, recklessness and meticulous police work.

“Here we had a group of young men with almost no discernible legal income between them living the lives of music stars or footballers – spending quite incredible sums on jewellery, holidays, designer clothes and the other trappings of wealth.

“All the more incredible was the fact they made so little effort to spend their money discreetly, choosing instead to brag on social media posts about just how much of it they spending. It was, however, their ready use of violence that led to their undoing.

“Our subsequent covert investigation unearthed a treasure trove of damning evidence that has ultimately led to the men’s convictions. We should be under no illusions that these are very dangerous men who thought nothing of discharging firearms in residential streets."

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