A rapper who was jailed for 12 years for heading a drug dealing operation has been freed under the government’s early release scheme.
Asco, real name Asfa Allen, was shown wearing a face mask and lighting up what appeared to be a spliff under neon strip lights in an executive minibus.
The grime artist sparked excitement among fans by writing ‘outside’ on his Instagram account and sharing pictures showing his first taste of freedom.
He was released on Tuesday as the second phase of the government scheme to ease jail overcrowding took place.
Another rapper, Young Dizz, real name Isaac Donkoh, has also been freed under the measure. Donkoh, 28, who was jailed for kidnapping and torturing a 16-year-old boy, posted selfies from the back of a £140,000 Land Rover after regaining his freedom on Tuesday.
Allen also showed a taste for the ‘bling’ lifestyle in the outside world, posting pictures of himself and a friend being driven in the minibus to a high street, as well as a shot of a diamond watch.
A separate video on social media showed him arriving at a party decorated with balloons to celebrate his 37th birthday.
Allen made up to £1,500 a day as the head of a county lines gang distributing heroin and crack cocaine from London to Colchester, Essex.
He was jailed for 12-and-a-half years in 2019 and his sentence is understood to have qualified for the emergency government scheme.
BBC Radio 1 DJ Tiffany Calver was among those welcoming the release of the promising artist, who signed a deal with Warner Bros in 2018 which could have been worth up to £1 million.
The urban music presenter responded to news of Allen’s freedom with three ‘hands raised’ emojis on his Instagram page.
He wrote: ‘Came home on my Gday, the rest is history…Allhamdullilah.’
Allen’s promising music career was interrupted by a police investigation which involved officers raiding 15 properties across London and the home counties, seizing £25,000 in cash, around half a kilogram of heroin, expensive designer footwear and vehicles.
At his sentencing, he was told by Judge Gregory Perrins: ‘You held and controlled the drugs line until your music career took off in the summer of 2018. I am satisfied that even when your music career took off, you still maintained a controlling interest in the drugs business.
‘You plainly made a significant amount of money and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle funded, at least in part, by dealing drugs.’
The court also heard how Allen, who at the time lived in Reading, had purchased jewellery worth £19,500 between July and December 2018 and complained of losing £50,000 worth of jewellery on a trip to Dubai.
He was said to have been the head of the drug operation’s ‘Bobby line’, taking £1,500 from its £2,000 to £3,000 a day profits.
The judge noted Allen’s talent for music but said he had no one else but himself to blame for putting his career in jeopardy.
The TMC Music Connoisseur X channel reported that Asco had been freed as part of the government’s drive to free up prison space and told followers: ‘The rap scene about to go crazy!’
The channel also shared a music video showing Allen rapping in front of a Rolls-Royce and being driven through London in the car.
He has previously spoken of having more dimensions as a rapper than simply someone specialising in drill or trap-style lyrics.
Allen told the AmardonTV channel: ‘The songs you mentioned are songs of substance, a lot of people don’t know me for that kind of music.
‘People associate me as a trap rapper but I feel the tape was a chance to show other angles and beliefs of mine.
‘Obviously my religion’s important, I’m not hiding away from Islam.’
It is understood that his sentence qualified for the second tranche of the early release scheme, which took place on October 22.
The measure is taking place to avoid the ‘collapse of the criminal justice system’ according to justice secretary Shabana Mahmood.
The second tranche of releases, part of her plan to free up around 5,500 places, applied to those serving sentences of five years or more.
Certain custodial sentences have been reduced from 50% to 40% under the scheme, which is aimed at easing the pressures on the prison estate, excluding sexual and serious violence offences.
Ms Mahmood has said that if the move to ease prison crowding is not taken, courts will be forced to delay sending offenders to jail and police unable to arrest dangerous criminals.
Speaking at HMP Five Wells in July, she warned of a ‘total breakdown of law and order’ if immediate action was not taken.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: ‘The new government inherited a prison system on the point of collapse.
‘It has been forced to introduce an emergency early release programme to avert a crisis that would have overwhelmed the criminal justice system, meaning we would no longer be able to lock up dangerous criminals and protect the public.
‘We will build the prison places to ensure serious offenders can always be punished in jail, while our Sentencing Review will bear down on reoffending, cut crime and make sure we are never again left on the brink of disaster.”
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