Dealer jailed for five years

3:20pm Sunday 7th September 2008

A professional drugs dealer arrested as he awaited the arrival of a consignment of 2,000 ecstasy tablets has been jailed for five years.

Ashley Hughes, aged 23, was expecting the delivery of 2,000 ecstasy tablets, as well as a quantity of amphetamine powder.

Although the 2,000 pills looked like ecstasy, they were in fact made from a different substance which was not illegal, prosecutor Stephen Rees told Swansea Crown Court.

However, Hughes had attempted to obtain ecstasy with the intention of supplying the pills and pleaded guilty.

Hughes, of Princes Street, Pembroke Dock, also admitted possessing 197 grams of amphetamine with a street value of up to £2,000.

Mr Rees said the tablets would have had a very similar effect to ecstasy and could have been sold on, for up to £8,000, without the takers being any the wiser.

Mr Rees said police stopped a Vauxhall Astra on the A40 approaching Haverfordwest on May 19th.

The driver was Justin Saunders, aged 30, of Castle Pill Road, Steynton, Milford Haven.

Officers found two locked, metal cash boxes in the car and when they smashed them open they found 20 bags of tablets in one and the amphetamine in the other.

Saunders immediately confessed he had been paid by Hughes to drive to Cardiff and give “a large quantity of money” to a man who would be waiting for him.

Then he was to return to west Wales with what he was given.

Saunders said he knew Hughes was a drugs dealer and that he would be returning with illegal substances.

Police arrested Hughes at his home. He denied knowing anything about the drugs, but police found a key that fitted one of the cash boxes.

The court heard Hughes had previous convictions for dealing in drugs, but Saunders had a clean record.

Saunders pleaded guilty to the single charge of possessing amphetamine with intent to supply.

Saunders told police he and his partner had been struggling financially.

He was jailed for 15 months.

Judge Price warned Hughes he was in “dire trouble” because of his record in drugs dealing.

“Those who get involved in the commercial trading of drugs must expect a prison term,” he said.

“Hughes is a professional drugs operator and dealer.”

An investigation is now underway to determine whether Hughes benefited from illegal activities, which could lead to an application to confiscate his assets.