A drug dealer was caught trying to get rid of his stash by flushing it down the toilet, a court has heard. Officers recovered ecstasy tablets from the bathroom of the bedsit and a quantity of cannabis from the drain.
An examination of the defendant's phone showed he had been involved in supplying cocaine, ketamine, LSD and ecstasy including by sending some of the drugs through the post. Jones has been sent to prison for four years and two months meaning the father-to-be will miss the birth of his child.
Craig Jones, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that acting on information gained following the downloading of a seized telephone, in October this year officers went looking for the defendant at a house on Meadowcroft Close in Waunarlwydd. The defendant was not at the address but his girlfriend was, and her phone was examined.
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Inquiries led police to a house of multiple occupation on Upton Terrace in the St Thomas area of Swansea, and the court heard that as officers approached the property they saw Jones leaning out of an upstairs window shouting "I'm being raided" and apparently filming what was going on. Read about a "greedy" young cocaine dealer was supplying wholesale quantities of coke to dealers for onward supply to addicts.
Police forced entry to the house and rushed upstairs, and they found Jones standing on the landing next to the bathroom - his hands and arms were wet and there was the sound of a flushing toilet. While some officers went to check the discharge pipe others searched the bathroom and defendant's room.
The prosecutor said that in the bin in the bathroom officers found blue, yellow, and pink ecstasy tablets while in the bedroom they found further ecstasy tablets, cannabis, "tabs" of LSD, empty zip-lock bags, weighing scales covered in while powder, two mobile phones, bank paying-in slips, and £3,100 in cash. Meanwhile the officers monitoring the discharge pipe recovered a quantity of flushed cannabis. A subsequent examination of the seized phones found evidence Jones had been involved in supplying cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy, and LSD both in person and through the post.
Sam Jones, 32, of Upton Terrace, St Thomas, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, and ketamine and to the simple possession of ecstasy and cannabis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has "numerous previous convictions" including for supplying cannabis and possession of cannabis with intent to supply, and for the simple possession of Class A and Class B drugs.
Ian Wright, for Jones, said the defendant's last conviction for a drug trafficking offence had been when he was aged 17, and he said his client was in a stable relationship was due to become a father in April.
Judge Huw Rees told Jones that those who become involved in supplying Class A drugs know the likely sentence that awaits them if they are caught. With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas Jones was sentenced to a total of 50 months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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