A BRAZEN drug gang were caught by cops after showing off lavish lifestyle bought using illegal cash in drill rap videos.
Akeem Chand, 27, and his accomplices lived like footballers as they splurged their ill-gotten gains on Rolex watches and luxury holidays.
The rapper – known as Brutz – boasted about needing a “Money Counter” to count his cash and was seen shopping for watches in a music video.
He also filmed himself and his gang enjoying a luxury trip to the Caribbean with a private yacht after flooding Nottingham with heroin and cocaine.
But the videos became his downfall after the dozy rapper accidentally gave away the location of his safe house.
Police had grown suspicious of the gang “living the lives of music stars” despite having no discernible legal income between them.
They launched a covert operation and caught them openly discussing selling drugs and shooting rivals.
Officers were then able to use the crystal-clear drone footage from their music videos to track down the gang’s safe house and seize drugs and cash.
Chand and six associates are now facing jail after being convicted of a string of drugs offences.
The court was told Chand operated a “sophisticated and highly profitable” network that shifted drugs from safe houses.
His gang used the flats to store weapons that were use in tit-for-tat turf wars with rival gangsters in 2018 and 2019.
Chand had previously been arrested after a rival gangster was blasted in the neck in a drive-by shooting.
After police grew suspicious of the high-end designer gear and flash holidays the gang enjoyed, they launched a secret surveillance operation.
NETWORK SMASHED
Chand and his associates could be heard openly talking about their illicit plans – including how to advertise their services.
Officers were also able to gather a “treasure trove of damning evidence” from the bug planted in Chand’s car.
They raided a safe house featured in one of the gang’s rap videos and discovered drugs and wads of cash as well as an arsenal of weapons.
Chand, Orlando Escoffery, 26, Quarnell Simpson, 23, Devante Neufville, 24, Kiefer Smith, 28, and Alexsandro Woolery, 27, were found guilty of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to possess ammunition without a certificate.
They had previously admitted conspiring to supply class A and class B drugs.
‘ARROGANCE’
Ravan Mather-Simpson, 25, also pleaded guilty before the trial to conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs.
And Sarah Aplin, 27, previously admitted to a charge of allowing a premises to used for the supply of controlled drug.
All eight will be sentenced on October 25.
Det Ch Insp Richard Bull said: “This was a very dangerous gang whose members were making huge sums of money from a widespread and sophisticated drug dealing network.
“Ultimately, however, they were undone by their own arrogance, recklessness and meticulous police work.
“Here we had a group of young men with almost no discernible legal income between them living the lives of music stars or footballers – spending quite incredible sums on jewellery, holidays, designer clothes and the other trappings of wealth.”
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