Three members of a Kurdish organised crime group that supplied drugs in Swansea and recruited asylum seekers as runners have been jailed, after a police officer's memory for faces helped dismantle the operation. The ringleaders remain at large, Swansea Crown Court heard.
Investigation into Pasha line
Hywel Davies, prosecuting, said the case stemmed from an investigation by the serious and organised crime team in Swansea into a Kurdish drugs line known as the Pasha line. On August 11 this year, police in the Mount Pleasant area saw a suspected drugs exchange in Carlton Terrace involving a male, later identified as Sirwan Aland, and people in a car. Officers watched Aland return to a black Audi parked nearby before moving in and detaining him.
In the car, police found deals of cannabis, cash, drugs paraphernalia, and a phone. On the phone were group photos showing the defendant and several other men. Later the same day, officers in Walter Road saw a male they recognised from the photos driving a Ford Focus. The car was followed to Page Lane, and when it stopped the driver, Omer Mahmood, was arrested and his phone seized.
Property search and arrests
The investigation led officers to a Swansea property where they found Barzan Sarhan in a bedroom. Inside the house they found bags of cannabis, cash, identity documents, a lock knife, cocaine, car keys, and several phones, including one holding the Pasha line number. One of the keys opened a VW Golf parked nearby, where officers found a Sports Direct carrier bag containing cannabis and a hidden compartment in the footwell containing cash.
Further inquiries led to the identification of Mohammed Yasin, who was located and arrested the following day. In total, police seized 17g of cocaine worth up to £1,000, 1.2kg of cannabis worth up to £8,000, cannabis vapes and edibles, and a quantity of cash.
Interviews and guilty pleas
In interview, Aland said he had been living in Warrington when a male offered him work in Swansea, and that he was paid £30 a day to sell cannabis. Mahmood said he knew the co-defendants from Birmingham and was paid £30 a day to supply cocaine and cannabis deals. Sarhan and Yasin answered "no comment" to all questions.
Mahmood, 20, of Birmingham Road, West Bromwich; Sarhan, 33, of Gibson Road, Handsworth, Birmingham; and Yasin, 27, of Mackintosh Place, Roath, Cardiff, had all previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, being concerned in the supply of cannabis, and possession of criminal property. Sarhan also admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply, and Mahmood admitted driving without insurance and otherwise than in accordance with a licence. Yasin pleaded guilty on the day of trial to burglary, for breaking into the Vaporiyum shop in Treorchy in the early hours of August 22 last year and stealing vapes. Aland, 22, of Old Liverpool Road, Warrington, had pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, and possession of criminal property.
Sentencing
The court heard that Sarhan had a previous conviction for conspiracy to supply cocaine from Swansea Crown Court in 2024, for which he received four years. Judge Huw Rees said the court was dealing with serious offences of trafficking Class A and Class B drugs. With discounts for guilty pleas, Mahmood was sentenced to 28 months detention in a young offenders' institution, Sarhan to four years in prison, and Yasin to 28 months for the drugs matters plus two months for the burglary, with three months of a suspended assault sentence activated, making 33 months in total. Aland was given an 18-month community order with a probation requirement and 150 hours of unpaid work. The defendants will serve up to half their sentences in custody before becoming eligible for release on licence.
