Drug dealer aged just 12 reveals the full extent of Britain’s knife crime epidemic and says what the police is trying ‘is not working’
THE brutal reality of Britain’s knife crime epidemic is laid bare today by a drug dealer aged just 12.
Jamal, who was recruited by a gang two years ago, has seen dozens of stabbings and has already been to the funerals of several close pals.
He says: “When the blade goes in time stands still. That’s when you realise it’s for real.
“People think, ‘Woah!’ But a week later everyone comes back and the violence gets worse and worse.”
Jamal, who lives on a notorious estate in East London, adds: “Last week some people from a borough we don’t like came to our borough just to fight.
“They hop out of the cars and two people start going at it. Someone put his hands on me and I started fighting.
“Then I heard screams and saw someone from the opposition had been stabbed in the leg.
“Everyone ran off the estate. The police got called. The road got taped off but everyone on the estate said they saw nothing. It’s the same story over and over again.
“Whatever the police are trying, it is not working.”
Jamal — whose real identity we are not revealing — says most of the stabbings are linked to the escalating gang culture controlling the drugs trade.
The stakes are high — with Jamal revealing he can carry up to £50,000 with him on a drugs run.
He adds: “Some people are crazy and enjoy the violence but most get involved to protect their turf.”
Jamal says knives are the weapon of choice as they are easy both to get hold of and to throw away.
He adds: “Knives. Asda — simple as. Mum’s drawer — simple as. And you can get away with dashing it in a residential area.”
Jamal, who says he carries a knife but never uses it, admits the violence does get to him.
He says: “Occasionally I zone out in class and all I am seeing in my head is the trauma of a big fight I have seen the week before.
But he is matter-of-fact about stabbings in general.
He adds: “The first thing to say about stabbings on the road (among gangs) is that if you’re not involved, don’t panic. If you’re not involved, you’ll never be touched.
“But where I come from if I go into a borough and I’m not recognised people will come to me because they will know I am there for a reason.
“On the road, people from X are not meant to go to Y and vice versa. It’s just how the turf is carved up but it does restrict your freedom. I know someone who moved out of his mum’s house but can’t ever go back to see her.
“One mistake can be deadly. My death could be swift or I might die the most horrible, gory way.”
Jamal’s testimony from the frontline comes as The Sun on Sunday launches a major campaign — Beat The Blades — to tackle the important issue of knife crime.
Since the start of 2018 there have been 37 fatal stabbings In London.
Across the UK police records show 37,443 knife offences and 6,694 gun offences in the year to September 2017. In London knife crimes were up by more than 2,400 to 12,980. The capital now has a higher murder rate than New York.
Jamal says he got into the criminal lifestyle as a way of supporting his impoverished family.
He admits: “I am a stereotype. I live on a scummy estate and I grew up watching the olders (senior gang members) making money.
“You see for me, school’s looking kinda long and I am living in this scummy place with a mum struggling to make ends meet and siblings who need feeding.
“So I’m thinking to myself, ‘Let me get my money up and get out’. The reason I started trying to get this money and the reason I’m still going now is for my mum.
“Because of the people I knew on my estate, it was easy to get into. It’s not so easy to get out of it.
“One day I was playing football on the estate with the olders and they got a phone call. The game stopped and they left.
“The next day, they returned with designer bags so I asked, ‘What’s this all about?’ “He told me, ‘There are a couple of moves (drug runs) here and there. If you want, I’ll introduce you to the right people.’
“On the estates, kids like me follow the olders. We’re less likely to get searched because we haven’t been in the prison system.”
Rising toll of sorrow
THE surge of stabbings across Britain this week means fatal knife attacks in 2018 have reached 95.
Met Police say that 110 knife suspects are stopped every day in the capital.
The wave of knife crime has seen McDonald’s play soothing classical music in some of its restaurants to try to calm things down.
The chain is already piping opera in its branch at Shepherd’s Bush, West London. It has switched off its wifi hoping that will also reduce violence.
Now the scheme could be rolled out at other restaurants in trouble hot-spots around the country.
Cops have helped install metal-detecting “knife arches” to stop customers bringing in weapons in McDonald’s and at KFC.
Jamal said he joined his first move aged just ten as part of an operation known as County Lines.
Because traditional drugs markets in big cities have become saturated, gangs are expanding into smaller towns and rural areas outside.
They are sending young people there to act as runners.
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Jamal recalls: “I had to make a two-hour journey from London by train. I told my mum I had a football match. I got given an address and a package in a bag and told not to look in it. The olders just said: ‘The guy will be there’.
“I was thinking, ‘What’s in there?’ and had a little peek. Then, ‘Wow! This is where the Ps (money) come from.’ There was £5,000 cash.
“On the train I was panicking because I saw transport police everywhere but I thought, ‘You need to get over yourself, Jamal.’”
Jamal dropped the cash as instructed and picked up a package. He says: “I just dropped it off to the people on my estate and they said: ‘Cool, we will shout you.’
“They handed me over £1k. I was so happy and treated my family to food, clothes and a new PlayStation. I figured if I could support them they wouldn’t have to do this work.”
Jamal’s intelligence made him a prized gang member and he quickly progressed to bigger moves. The next time he was given £2,000.
But he says: “The money came quick and the money went fast. I couldn’t show the money to my mum and couldn’t put it in a bank so had to keep spending.”
As he became more involved Jamal was even taught to drive recently by senior gang members.
He says: “The olders have been teaching us but some kids my age can barely reach the pedals.
“If I am driving I can go further with bigger packages and I’m less likely to get caught.”
At the start of the year, Jamal was driven to the M25 and told he was ready for a motorway move. He was taking £50,000 to a secret destination for a shipment of drugs to take back to London.
He says: “I am trying to drive with £50k chilling in the boot, wondering, ‘How do people do this?’
“I was panicking, thinking to myself, ‘Let me stay alive. If I just stall once, people could die.’
“The olders told me, ‘Keep your hands on the wheel and don’t look round.’ Since then Jamal has moved drugs and cash across counties from Hampshire to Surrey and Sussex.
Despite being caught in the brutal world of knives, Jamal is philosophical about his fate. Speaking about a recent funeral, he says: “We feel the grief but we accept it fast because we know from the beginning we might die in the first week.”
But he adds: “It feels like I’m too involved now and there’s no way out. I wish I’d never seen some of the things I’ve seen. I’d like to find a way out of but it feels like there will always be something bringing me back in.
“I think the only way I could break free is to leave the country and start a new life somewhere else."
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