A grime artist who organised drug supply chains has been jailed for more than 12 years.
Asfa Allen, known as Asco, masterminded at least four ' county lines routes ' out of east London, his trial heard.
The 32-year-old, from Gillingham in Kent, was found guilty last month, along with associate Akwasi Kwateng, 24.
Both were convicted of conspiracy to supply class A drugs via a county lines network.
And today Allen was caged for 12-and-a-half years at Blackfriars Crown Court.
The court heard Allen used lower-level gang members to facilitate his supply chains starting from Hackney, east London.
Jurors heard he had just landed a recording contract, which could have seen him leave his life of crime and violence behind.
'County lines' refers to groups or gangs using young people or vulnerable adults to carry and sell drugs from borough to borough, and across county boundaries.
Kai Lye, 28, from Hackney, Donovan Corbett, 22, also from Hackney, Bradley Fapolnle, 33, from Barking, and Denzel Nimoh, 20, from Coventry earlier pleaded guilty to supplying Class A drugs via a county lines network.
All six were convicted under Operation Halmist.
This is a proactive operation established by the Met's Specialist Crime North, formerly named Trident Central Gangs Unit.
Its objective was to disrupt organised Class A drug distribution routes into county forces, focusing in east London.
During the trial, the court heard that in the early hours of 12 December 2017, following months of investigations, officers executed 15 warrants across London and the home counties.
It resulted in £25,000 in cash and about half a kilogram of heroin being seized by police.
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