A young drug dealer's mother called the police on her son after she found heroin and crack cocaine in his coat pocket. He was still in bed when police arrived and discovered 129 wraps of class A drugs worth more than £5,000.
Ahmed Karshe, 20, of Cardiff, was living with his mother when she discovered the drugs and cash in a black puffer jacket on December 16 last year. She called the police who arrived at her home at around 1.30pm when her son was still in bed.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday heard Karshe's mother had placed the drugs in a white medical bag. In total, the bag contained 115 wraps of crack cocaine and 14 wraps of heroin, with a street value between £5,120 and £5,660. Also found was £1,217 in cash.
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Prosecutor Tabitha Walker said police woke Karshe up and arrested him. Three mobile phones were also seized but no messages relating to drug dealing were discovered. The defendant, of Steffani Court, Butetown, was interviewed but answered "no comment" to all questions.
Karshe later pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply a controlled drug of class A. He did so on a basis which was read out to the court, which said: "I have been a user of controlled drugs myself and to support myself I began to supply on a social basis to a few friends to support it, not on a commercial scale and only to a few friends."
Ms Walker said the basis of plea was acceptable to the Crown. She said Karshe was in breach of a suspended sentence order after the defendant was convicted of an unrelated offence in 2021.
In mitigation, solicitor-advocate Nadeem Majid said Karshe was "eternally grateful" for his mother for stopping him in his tracks before he went further down a slippery slope. He said his mother had brought up six children and described himself as "the rotten apple" in the family who has "brought shame" upon his mother.
Sentencing, Judge David Wynn Morgan said: "People who sell class A drugs go to prison and it really doesn't matter upon what basis they sell class A drugs, because they go to prison.
"If you think for a moment how ordinary members of the public would react, confronted by someone in breach of a suspended sentence who had admitted selling class A drugs in large quantities to friends while making significant sums of money from it, they would be outraged."
The judge said Karshe's mother was to be "commended" for her actions, having reported her son to the police in the knowledge he would go to prison. He sentenced Karshe to a total of 18 months imprisonment, of which he will serve half in custody before being released on licence.
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