Inmate on the run after Christmas prison break was jailed for county lines drug dealing - The Mirror

Mahad Elmi is being hunted by police after setting up a drug dealing operation using a teenager to sell crack and heroin trafficked from London to Cardiff

An inmate who is on the run after he fled an open prison on Christmas Day was convicted of masterminding a county lines drug dealing operation.

Mahad Elmi, 27, is being hunted by Thames Valley Police after he left HMP Springhill in Bucks. Police said he has links to South West London but should not be approached.

The Mirror can reveal he was jailed for eight years in 2019 along with his brother Amin for selling heroin and crack cocaine in the city. The brothers from London had laminated business cards made for customers as they ran a drug dealing operation in Cardiff.

Police discovered they were controlling a 17-year-old boy to help with their county lines drug supply across the city. When officers raided a flat in the Roath area the teenager was found to have more than 50 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine, worth about £1,000.

The officers from Cardiff's organised crime unit forced entry to the crack den last October following information that a London-based county lines gang were "cuckooing" the address.

This refers to the practice of the targeting of vulnerable residents by drug dealers and then using their homes to sell narcotics from.

The brothers were arrested along with the teenager who cannot be named for legal reasons. During the raid £405 cash was seized along with mobile phones, drugs paraphernalia and cannabis. All three were charged with possession with intent to supply heroin, crack cocaine, and cannabis.

Mahad Elmi, 20, from Lambeth, South London, pleaded guilty while Amin Elmi, 19, from London, was found guilty following a trial at Swansea Crown Court. They were jailed for eight years and six years respectively.

In the 12 months to March 2025, 57 prisoners absconded from prisons in England and Wales. That figure has been decreasing since 2020, when 143 inmates had absconded.

Thames Valley Police said Elmi was a "black man, around 5ft 8ins tall, of medium build and has medium-length black hair, a beard and brown eyes".

The force said he has links to south-west London.

Detective Sergeant Matthew French, of Buckinghamshire's Priority Crime Team, said: "We are appealing for the help of the public to trace Mahad Elmi, who is unlawfully at large after leaving and not returning to HMP Springhill.

"If you see Elmi, do not approach him and call 999 instead.

"If you have any information as to where Elmi may be, please call 101 or make a report online, quoting reference number 43250653119."