Grime Artist ASCO And Associates Sentenced To 43 Years In Prison

13 September 2019, 19:08 | Updated: 13 September 2019, 19:18

Asfa Allen, known as grime artist ASCO, was sentenced to 12 and a half years in jail for leading a county lines route from East London.

His associates, Akwasi Kwateng, Donovan Corbett and Bradley Faponle from East London and Denzel Nimohwere from Coventry were sentenced to a total of 21 years.

The men were all convicted under Operation Halmist – a proactive operation established by the Met's Specialist Crime North, formerly named Trident Central Gangs Unit.

As part of the intelligence collated during the operation, it was established that ASCO had been the organiser for at least four county lines routes out of London into the home counties using lower-level gang members to facilitate his supply chains starting from Hackney.

Detective Sergeant Gary Clarke, from the Met’s Specialist Crime North who led the investigation, said: “This was a long and thorough investigation carried out by my dedicated team who worked tirelessly to collate evidence that would remove these individuals from our streets and shut down a county lines route.

“These prolific drug dealers targeted vulnerable people and managed multiple drug lines for the sole purpose of financial gain.

“Allen, who also went by the stage name ‘ASCO’ had landed a successful and lucrative recording contract with a major label where he could have left his life of crime and violence behind, however he could not release his grip on running a county lines route and will now be spending time behind bars instead of working on his music.”