Hungarian drug dealer case shows the danger of County Lines gangs

Addiction to drugs had resulted in him giving up a job at a London car wash. Desperation led him to the drug dealers’ door in the hope of work. Debt and the threat of violence was what kept him in their employ.

And had it not been for a fight in the lobby of the Jurys Inn hotel the police might never have found him.

From working at the car wash to working the street

Born in 1999 in Hungary, Dominik Buzasi was 19 when he travelled to London. Initially, he worked in a car wash, making good money.

How he became a drug user is not clear. But he began to regularly take the illegal substances – crack cocaine and heroin – that he would later sell on the streets of Swindon.

Dominik Buzasi Picture: WILTSHIRE POLICE

Buzasi lost his job washing cars. Then he lost his passport. The people from whom he was buying drugs suggested he work for them and in the process pay off some of his drug debt.

Initially, he was prepared to work for the gang. But it wasn’t long before he became stuck in the dangerous life of a County Lines drug dealer.

And the gang for which he worked were no angels.

Based in Walthamstow, north east London, the dealers ran a Swindon drugs line nicknamed “Alpo”.

In November last year, months before Buzasi began working for the gang, the Alpo line was linked to a stabbing in Walcot. Runners had taken over an addict’s home in Queens Drive. One of the runners – Naz – was reportedly responsible for attacking another behind the flats.

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Earlier this month, as Buzasi languished in a cell awaiting his court appearance, police found a 17-year-old boy in Swindon who they claimed had been trafficked from London to sell class A drugs for the Alpo line. The lad had been reported missing by his family several days before. The lad was picked up with his “minder”, detectives said.

On September 21, police were called to the Jury’s Inn hotel on Fleming Way by a member of the public.

Two men, one of them a drug user well-known to police, had come running into the hotel. In the words of prosecutor Tessa Hingston the pair were “having a go” at a guest. One of the men claimed the guest – Buzasi – had stolen £1,000 from him.

Police searched Buzasi’s £90-a night room. They found 50 wraps of crack cocaine, 35 of heroin and £1,015 in cash.

Buzasi ran from police but was swiftly brought to heel. “I want to go back to Hungary,” he cried as he was arrested.

He had spent the previous two weeks selling drugs in Swindon. The operation was based out of an addict’s home.

How did the dealing work?

It was the second time Buzasi had been driven to the town by the Alpo gang. On each occasion he was carrying almost 500 wraps of crack cocaine and heroin, each of them worth around £5 on the street.

Buzasi was found here at Swindon's Jury's Inn Picture: DAVE COX

The Hungarian was paid £100 a day. His Swindon-based runner was handed drugs worth the equivalent of £150.

Buzasi didn’t sell the drugs directly to customers. Instead, he sent his runner out onto the street corner.

Court

Appearing at Swindon Crown Court last week, Buzasi, 20, of no fixed address, was jailed for 28 months after he pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply and possession of criminally-acquired cash.

In the young man’s defence, barrister Nicholas Lee said his client had been threatened by the gangsters for whom he worked. On one occasion he was shown weapons and told what would happen to him if he ever stopped cooperating.

There was a suggestion, too, that those at the top of the Alpo gang claimed drugs entrusted to Buzasi had gone missing - increasing the Hungarian man’s debt.

He was said to be of previous good character, with no convictions in either the UK or Hungary.

Recorder Alexia Power said it was a matter for the Home Office whether he is deported after being released from jail.