Drug dealer’s friend ‘gave’ him ecstasy

A Queenstown drug dealer claims a friend who left New Zealand gave him ecstasy pills worth $120,000.

Keith Singleton, a 30-year-old labourer originally from Ireland, said he only started selling the pills when his partner was made redundant.

Police found 2431 pills when they searched his home on December 9 and charged him with possession of the class B drug ecstasy and possession of ecstasy for supply.

In the Queenstown District Court yesterday, Judge Russell Walker sentenced Singleton to 11 months and two weeks home detention and 200 hours of community work, on top of 240 hours already completed.

‘‘You have come as close as you possibly can to a sizeable term of imprisonment without actually going to prison,’’ the judge said.

Singleton’s claim a friend left the pills with him because the friend had to leave New Zealand due to visa issues stretched credibility, the judge said.

‘‘This type of offending has become all too prevalent in Queenstown.’’

In a letter to the court, Singleton said he saw other people selling ecstasy and though it would be easy.

‘‘You acknowledge that drugs in town are rampant with every second person taking drugs,’’ the judge said.

When police executed a search warrant on his home they found five ecstasy tablets in his bedroom and another 2426 tablets in a suitcase in the garage. The tablets were worth $121,550 in total.

Police also found $2360 in cash, which Singleton admitted was from the sale of ecstasy.

Singleton would inevitably be deported, the judge said.