A COCAINE dealer who told his customers on Facebook he was back in business just after being released following his arrest on drugs charges was jailed.

Emelio Malson, 22, from Pontypool, advertised “bumping fire” and “banging ammo” in text bombs he would send to his customers.

They were references to the cocaine and cannabis he was offering for sale, prosecutor David Pugh told Cardiff Crown Court.

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He said: “The defendant first came to the attention of the police last August when a Ford Focus he was travelling in collided with a lamppost near Asda in Cwmbran.

“Officers attended and there was a strong smell of cannabis coming from the car.

“The three people in the vehicle were arrested and the defendant’s mobile phone was analysed.”

Mr Pugh said after he was released, Malson used the same telephone number to continue selling drugs after putting it up on Facebook.

The defendant, of Machine Meadows, Pontnewynydd, pleaded guilty to offering to supply cocaine and cannabis between February 1, 2019 and November 30, 2019.

Suzanne Payne, mitigating, asked for the defendant to be given credit for his early guilty pleas.

She said: “He was a heavy user of cocaine and cannabis at the time of these offences and used them on a daily basis.

“He got himself into debt and started supplying drugs to people he knew.”

Mrs Payne said Malson had a six-year-old son and his partner was expecting a baby.

The court was told the defendant cared for his mother who had suffered a stroke and was considered to be at a “low risk of reoffending”.

Judge Daniel Williams told him: “You continued to sell drugs even after your arrest and you announced on Facebook that you were back at it.”

He jailed him for two years and six months and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge upon his release from custody.