All posts by ianr

Child taken to hospital following collision

A child had to be taken to be taken to hospital yesterday by air ambulance, following a collision between a car and pedestrians in West Sussex.

Police were called to College Road, Ardingly just after 4.30 in the afternoon. The child’s condition is said to be serious, while four others were treated for minor injuries. No further details have yet been released.

If you have news for Sussex and Surrey, contact us on news@susyradio.com

Police concern for missing Brian Aherne

Concern is growing for the welfare of a pensioner who’s gone missing from Burgess Hill.

70-year-old Brian Aherne was last seen at his home around 5.15am yesterday morning and is thought to be travelling on foot.

Brian Aherne
Photo credit: Sussex Police

Brian is white, 5’ 8” in height, of medium build and with grey hair. He is thought to be wearing a light green jacket, trousers and black shoes.

Anyone who sees him or who has any information as to his whereabouts is asked to contact police on 101 quoting serial 639 of 16/08.

If you have news for Sussex and Surrey, contact us on news@susyradio.com

Gatwick Airport announces first six months’ passenger numbers

New figures released show that passenger numbers at Gatwick airport reached just under five hundred and seventy thousand in the first six months of 2021.

The impact of Covid and varying travel bans saw revenue streams at the site lead to a £244.6m loss for the six-month period. However, despite the low numbers, the airport successfully managed to put safeguards in place to ensure it’s future.

Chief Executive Officer, Stewart Wingate, recently thanked the staff for all their hard work and is certain that Gatwick will recover. Adding, the Government needs to act now and remove costly PCR testing requirements for passengers, particularly for those who have been double vaccinated.

If you have news for Sussex and Surrey, contact us on news@susyradio.com

County line drug dealers behind bars

Three prolific drug dealers who ran the ‘Ghost’ county line in Surrey were sentenced to a total of 14 years and two months in prison yesterday (11 August), at Guildford Crown Court.

Abdi Muhamed, 36, Nicola Shine, 41, and Younus Tayyib, 27, were sentenced to a total of 14 years and two months between them for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

In June last year, numerous offenders were sentenced for their involvement in dealing drugs for the Ghost line. Following the sentencings, officers noticed that messages advertising Ghost’s drugs were still being sent to users, showing that the line was still active. Further intelligence and analysis linked the phone being used to send some of the messages to addresses connected with Younus Tayyib.

Data from the same phone identified Nicola Shine as one of Ghost’s drug runners. Cell site analysis showed that Shine and Tayyib travelled to the same location together to rent a hire car. The same car drove into Surrey from London on a daily basis and was later connected to drug dealing.

On 24 November last year, officers were ready to arrest Tayyib and Shine. When Shine was pulled over in Dorking, a crack pipe was found in her car and she tested positive for cocaine on a roadside drug test. In custody, a total of 37 wraps of cocaine and heroin were found concealed in Shine’s clothes.

The same day, officers conducted warrants at three addresses linked to Tayyib. He was arrested at an address in Hayes, where he was found in possession of the phone running the Ghost line. Also found in the property was around £1,500 in cash, weighing scales, cling film and other drug paraphernalia. In Tayyib’s bedroom at his family home in Ealing, 23 grams of crack cocaine was seized, with an estimated street value of around £2,300.

Abdi Muhamed was arrested when he was found inside the same address as Tayyib during the warrant in Hayes. Two more mobile phones seized from the address were linked to Muhamed and contained hundreds of messages selling drugs for the Ghost county line. Messages on the same phone also showed Muhamed directing Shine to sell drugs on his behalf.

Further evidence was found in the deleted items on Muhamed’s phone on the day of his arrest, including a video of him counting £45,000 in cash and another showing him cutting a large quantity of cocaine and heroin into smaller wraps.

Younus Tayyib, of Northcote Avenue in Ealing, received five years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to the charge.

Younus Tayyib
Photo credit: Surrey Police

Nicola Shine, from Greenford in Ealing, received two years and four months’ imprisonment after pleading not guilty.

Nicola Shine
Photo credit: Surrey Police

Abdi Muhamed, of Pembroke Court in Ealing, received six years and 10 months’ imprisonment after pleading not guilty. The jury dispelled Muhamed’s defence of possessing a burner phone not for dealing drugs, but for keeping in contact with numerous secret girlfriends.

Abdi Muhamed
Photo credit: Surrey Police

Detective Constable Martin O’Neill, who investigated the case, said: “The Ghost county line has been prolific in Surrey over the past couple of years. After putting away several drug runners, we realised that the line was still active and that this time, we needed to target the people running the line from the top. The people who think they’re safe because they run the line from the comfort of their own home in a different county.

“I hope that yesterday’s result shows that if you are travelling to Surrey to deal drugs, we will work tirelessly to find you and we will bring you to justice. As demonstrated by these sentences, you don’t even need to be found in possession of drugs for us to prove that you’re dealing them in our communities.

“We will continue to proactively investigate drug dealing in Surrey, so if you are thinking of dealing drugs, my message to you, is that it’s not worth it.”

If you have news for Sussex and Surrey, contact us on news@susyradio.com