Drug dealer told police he wanted out
AMAN who walked into a police station and told officers he was a drug dealer working 16-hour shifts for a gang and wanted to leave the trade was caught just a month later in a car with more than 50 wraps of heroin and cocaine, a court has heard.
When arrested on a residential street in Swansea, he was at the wheel of a Mercedes the drug gang had given him so he could carry out his duties. Swansea Crown Court heard that police officers in Sketty Park saw a car driving in a suspicious manner on Lon Olchfa at lunchtime on March 4.
Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said the car was seen to drive slowly down the street before stopping in the middle of the road.
A woman got into the car, spoke to the occupants briefly, then got out. The car drove away, and the officers – suspecting a drug deal had just been done – followed the vehicle before pulling it over on neighbouring Oak Ridge.
The court heard that in the driver’s seat was 36-year-old Anthony Thomas; in the back 22-year-old Londoner Samuel Sholola. The prosecutor said police recovered 17 wraps of heroin and 34 wraps of cocaine from Sholola’s trousers, along with £200. Another £250 was found on the back seat of the Merc.
When interviewed, Thomas told officers: “I am sorry – I don’t want to be in this game.”
Sholola denied being involved in drug dealing, saying he had been asked to travel to Swansea to “monitor” Thomas, and to report back to London on what he was doing.
He said the woman who police had been seen entering the car on the Sketty street had given them the drugs, and he had never seen heroin or cocaine before.
The court heard it was not the first time Thomas had told police he no longer wanted to be a drug dealer. On February 8 he had gone into Swansea Central police station, handed over some drugs, and given a full statement to police about his dealing, including the fact he was working 16-hour shifts for a London gang. Thomas said he was receiving up to 80 calls a day on his mobile in connection with dealing.
Thomas, of Rhondda Street, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, and Sholola, of Tudor Road, Hayes, London, had both previously pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply when they appeared together in the dock for sentencing. Thomas had also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and possession offences relating to the admissions he had made at the police station in February.
The court heard Thomas had 14 previous convictions for 23 offences, including one for possession of heroin with intent to supply from 2012, while Sholola has two previous convictions for six offences including for robbery and a firearms offence.
Sending the pair down, Judge Geraint Walters said: “The two of you, and those like you, spread misery to countless individuals. It is truly wicked conduct – it blights lives and communities.” Thomas was sentenced to four years in prison, and Sholola to three years.