THE KINGPIN of an "extensive and professionally run" county lines drugs network that operated in Basingstoke has been jailed.

Anders Ahmed-Idan was said to have been one of the two "founding fathers" of the G drugs network, restocking the runners which reported to him with crack cocaine and heroin regularly.

Appearing at Winchester Crown Court on Monday (December 21), he was jailed for 8 years after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

The G network shipped class A drugs from Hounslow, London to Basingstoke and dealt it across the town for 13 months in 2018 and 2019.

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Ahmed-Idan was one of two kingpins based in London that had "oversight" of the line, pulling drugs runners from other lines he had connections with to work for him in Basingstoke.

When eight members of the county lines network were sentenced in August, the court heard how Ahmed-Idan was responsible for stocking his dealers with drugs.

He would travel to junctions on the M3 to reload his runners, where they would hand cash over to him.

The court heard how in October 2018, the line was so successful that he was travelling to Basingstoke to do this up to twice a day.

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The court was also told how he was responsible for drugs networks in Hounslow and Borehamwood.

The network was set up in May 2018, days after Jeffrey Zani, Ahmed-Idan's "key player on the ground in Basingstoke", was given a housing association property in Popley.

Zani had been convicted of drug offences in Oxford when he was relocated to Basingstoke to be away from the area.

"Jeffrey Zani's home of Tewkesbury Close in Popley was the main operating centre for the conspiracy," prosecutor Mark Ruffell told the court in August.

"The Crown suggest that Jeffrey Zani housed the runners that appeared from London and dealt drugs himself."

Ahmed-Idan stayed in Popley for three days in October 2018 and took control of the G line for that period.

It was also said that when Ahmed-Idan and his associate left the country, the line would go quiet, with other members unable to restock with drugs whilst the duo were away.

Sentencing three members of the network, Judge Andrew Barnett said that they "must bear the condemnation of society".

He said: "What the three of you have to understand is that people who get involved with the distribution of class A drugs ruin their lives.

"This is a conspiracy which was extensive and professionally run and it operated over a period of at least eight months that I have heard about and a great number of people that were involved with it," labelling Ahmed-Idan one of the two "founding fathers".

The news comes just days after nine members of a county lines cartel that operated in Basingstoke were sentenced.