This is the moment a mini-market owner is caught selling cocaine, cannabis and prescription drugs from his High Street shop.
‘I’ve got weed, coke, everything. Whatever you want, I can sort you out,’ said a man behind the counter at a shop in Cradley Heath, a town within the West Midlands.
The man inside the store, who said his name was Akwa, was ready to supply cocaine and cannabis to an undercover researcher for the BBC.
After trying one high street shop, the undercover researcher was told to visit Cradley Market where Akwa took seconds to produce 3.5g of cannabis from the back of the store.
He took out a small bag of cannabis from his rucksack and exchanged £35 before ringing a dealer after being asked if he sold cocaine.
‘Big boss can you sort 1g coke today?,’ he asks down the phone before selling it on for £90.
He also offered him a range of prescription drugs, including pregabalin, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety, nerve pain and epilepsy.
Akwa reeled through a selection of pictures of prescription drugs on his phone for sale, telling the researcher to take photos in case he knew anyone who would be interested.
The man inside the store, who said his name was Akwa, was ready to supply cocaine and cannabis to an undercover researcher
After trying one high street shop, the undercover researcher was told to visit Cradley Market where Akwa took seconds to produce 3.5g of cannabis from the back of the store
Akwa also offered him a range of prescription drugs, including pregabalin, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety, nerve pain and epilepsy
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When confronted, Akwa denied any wrongdoing, saying: ‘Me selling cannabis from the shop? I don’t know what you are talking about’.
He continued: ‘It’s my shop. OK. It’s my shop. I gotta do what the f*** I wanna do here.
‘You don’t come here and tell me that I sell drugs because you’re actually p****** me off right now.’
A spokesperson for Sandwell Council said it was working with police to tackle illegal activity.
A few miles away, organised crime gangs have taken hold of some of the High Street in the neighbouring borough of Dudley, the Trading Standards lead there says.
Kuldeep Maan, from Dudley Council trading standards, said that the sale of illegal drugs, counterfeit cigarettes and illegal vapes is the worst it has been in 20 years.
He said that he has shut down 39 stores in Dudley for selling illegal cigarettes in the past year, and during raids, his team has found cannabis, cocaine, nitrous oxide, and fake and foreign prescription drugs.
Undercover researchers were able to buy cannabis, cannabis vapes and nitrous oxide from shops in two towns in the borough, Lye and Brierley Hill.
Nitrous oxide, a class C drug commonly known as laughing gas that brings about short-term feelings of lightheadedness, fits of giggles and hallucinations, can cause brain damage when inhaled.
One local business owner, who did not want to be named, said they regularly see people inhaling laughing gas after buying it from nearby stores.
Romanian national Marius Boros, who runs a grocery shop on Dudley High Street, said: ‘People are scared to come here.’
There are ‘a lot of fights, knives, guns’ outside, he added. ‘I work really hard, everything I had, I invested here. I’m very close to losing everything.’
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When confronted, Akwa denied any wrongdoing, saying: ‘Me selling cannabis from the shop? I don’t know what you are talking about’
Dudley Council says through its Operation Clearance campaign, launched in August 2024, it has been working with local police, landlords and businesses ‘to rid the borough of businesses run by organised crime’
Michael Brereton, director for development and regulation, said: ‘The council has delivered some of the strongest enforcement outcomes in the country and, to date, 42 shops have been successfully closed.’
Under anti-social behaviour legislation, shops can only be closed for three months, but statements from other businesses and members of the public are often needed.
BBC analysis reveals that drugs, including crystal meth and heroin, had been found in more than 70 shops and linked premises on UK High Streets.
MP Liam Byrne, who leads the Business and Trade Committee, said: ‘The scale of it is horrifying and the ease of it is just terrifying. It means a zero-tolerance approach to the kind of organised crime that is now doing business under our noses.’
A spokesperson for the Home Office said the government is working with police, the National Crime Agency and Trading Standards to ‘take the strongest possible action against these criminal businesses.
Earlier this year, a council worker claimed that children as young as 11 are being sexually abused in High Street mini-marts after being groomed with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes
They said reports of the abuse have been raised multiple times between 2016 and 2025 in briefings with members of a child sexual exploitation safeguarding group at Dudley Council in the West Midlands.
And intelligence briefings between 2019 and 2024 saw concerns that children were at risk after being offered drugs, alcohol and cigarettes at mini-marts – with some then being ferried to other locations.
Trading Standards officers said raids at some shops revealed pull-out beds, while a 13-year-old girl was reportedly attacked by a worker who attempted to remove her clothes and drag her to a room above the shop.
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In June 2024, a report was made of an attempt to ‘lure a child to a flat’ after they were given free cigarettes.
By December 2024, concerns were raised by Trading Standards that children as young as 11 were being ‘taken in one pop-up shop to an unknown location via vehicle to collect cigarettes and vapes’.
According to Dudley Trading Standards intelligence, authorities had concerns over child sexual exploitation linked to 11 shops and shopworkers across the borough, the BBC reports.
These include premises in Lye, Stourbridge, Brierley Hill and Dudley itself.
A report from 2023 stated: ‘These crime groups in Dudley have links to CSE, drug offences, modern day slavery, and have illegal immigrants working on the premises.’
By 2024, Trading Standards said that workers in one Stourbridge mini-mart were ‘now selling drugs and giving away these illegal goods to children in return for sexual favours’.
Five years previously, a separate case saw a mini-mart worker claim to have offered free cigarettes to schoolgirls for kisses, and sexually assaulted a female PCSO in Wales.
A separate law enforcement source told the corporation they were informed last year that children aged 13-15 were being given vapes from shop workers in return for sex, while raids at some premises revealed ‘pull-out beds’.
Along Dudley High Street, the raids by Trading Standards revealed the beds and piles of make-up, while officers who entered the flats above found ‘used condoms everywhere’, officer Mr Maan said.
A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: ‘We won’t tolerate illegal activity and we work with a range of partners to respond to any concerns linked to shops around the West Midlands.
‘Officers from across our various teams have carried out warrants alongside Trading Standards, HMRC and others, in response to information we’ve received throughout the region.
‘We will always look to work with partners to act on complaints about illegal drug sales, anti-social behaviour, and crime and disorder.
‘If there’s evidence of criminal activity, or links to organised crime, then we will take action to arrest those involved, pursue prosecutions, and work with agencies to secure closure orders.
‘We would always urge anyone with information to contact us and our partner agencies, as the more evidence and intelligence we receive means we all have a better opportunity of combating any illegal activities.’
