Gang kidnapped 19-year-old woman and forced her to sell drugs 200 miles away

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A pair of “county line” gangsters have been convicted of trafficking a teenager and forcing her to sell cocaine nearly 200 miles away.

Mahad Yusuf and Fesal Mahamud were members of a north London street gang that lured the young woman into a car after speaking to her on social media. She was then driven to Swansea, south Wales.

Once there, the 19-year-old was met by Yusuf who told her she “belonged to him”, police said. London's Metropolitan Police described the woman as vulnerable.

After rescuing her in May, the force said the gang had destroyed her phone and held her there for five days, using her to transport and sell class A drugs.

She was found during a joint operation with South Wales Police.

In so-called “county lines” schemes, gangs in Britain’s big cities identify rural markets they can flood with hard drugs and use specific mobile phone numbers to take orders in the areas.

The National Crime Agency has estimated there are more than 720 of the lines across England and Wales alone. They are “protected with violence and intimidation”.

Gangsters groom young and vulnerable people in order to use them as mules, investigators have said.

Yusuf, 20,and Mahamud, 19, both from north London, both admitted trafficking the woman – an offence under the Modern Slavery Act – and conspiracy to supply class A drugs at Swansea Crown Court earlier this week.

They will be sentenced on 4 January.

Mahamud was “directing the actions” of Yusuf, police said.

“The victim in this case suffered a horrendous ordeal at the hands of these two men, who trafficked her for their own criminal gain," said Detective Inspector Rick Sewart. “Unfortunately this case is by no means unique. Drug dealers are exploiting vulnerable people across the country via county lines.”