Tourist sold ecstasy in Blenheim bar

A Swedish tourist has been caught trying to sell ecstasy at a Blenheim bar.

Marcus Sven Birgersson, 27, was caught after a bar patron told a police officer who was at the pub doing routine checks.

Birgersson was offering people capsules of brown ecstasy powder for $2 each on February 3, a police summary said.

Police arrested Birgersson and searched him, finding 14 capsules.

Birgersson told police he was selling the capsules so he could pay for a place to stay the night.

He admitted a charge of supplying a class B drug at the Blenheim District Court on Monday.

The maximum penalty was 14 years in prison.

His lawyer Rob Harrison said Birgersson had purchased the capsules at a festival.

‘‘This is not organised offending or something more sinister.

‘‘There was hardly a commercial gain because I think they cost him more than that to purchase. He was just trying to get some

"He was just trying to get some money together so he could afford somewhere to sleep." Rob Harrison, lawyer

money together so he could afford somewhere to sleep.’’

Birgersson was in the country on a tourist visa which ended in June, Harrison said.

Judge Anthony Walsh said he accepted the offending was at the lower end of the scale.

‘‘But you need to be under no illusions about the seriousness of the offence.’’

He convicted Birgersson and sentenced him to 50 hours’ community work.